Two Worlds
by anon011211
Summary: Family problems, first loves, new friends, and secret magical powers; being a teenager is already complicated enough for Rikki, Cleo, and Emma. But when the girls encounter a pod of real mermaids, their lives are once again turned upside down. With the help of a few new friends, the girls must take on the ruthless pod leader before she can wage a war on everything they hold dear.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Ondina was the type of mermaid who enjoyed peace and quiet.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy company. She might have been somewhat reserved, but she was friendly and accepting towards almost everybody that she came across, mermaid or not. If a mermaid from the pod greeted her, she would smile and greet them back. (Albeit quietly.) If a sea creature wanted to stop and make small-talk with her, she would set aside a few minutes and talk to them.

Like most other teenagers, mermaid or not, Ondina often spent time with her best friends. There was Sirena, the venturesome mermaid that had pulled Ondina out of her shell when she first came to the pod. There was also Zac, Sirena's brother, who, over the years, had become something of a brother to Ondina as well.

But, when she wasn't occupied with saving Sirena from whatever she'd gotten herself into that day, or conversing about the deadly effects of pollution with a disgruntled stingray, Ondina was often found on her own. Ondina had learned something about herself within her first week of being a part of Lyla's pod; unlike the other mermaids, who could talk and be around other mermaids all day without fail, Ondina needed to take some time for herself. This was probably because she wasn't used to having so much company. Like the other mermaids in the pod, Ondina was an orphan of some sort. In fact, the entire pod consisted of orphaned mermaids; Lyla had formed the pod by finding mermaids who needed protection and company during her travels.

The difference between Ondina and the other mermaids had taken her a few months of getting to know everyone to realize. While the other mermaids all at least remembered their pod or family the way they were before whatever incident had occurred to leave them lonely and defenseless, Ondina couldn't even remember a time when she wasn't alone. Before she'd gotten picked up by Lyla two years prior, the only company she had ever really had was the company of the aquatic animals that inhabited the ocean. She couldn't remember a single detail about her parents, although she knew that she had to have had parents at some point or another. In fact, Ondina couldn't even recall a single memory from the earliest years of her life. After a while, she just grew to accept that she was different.

Of course, independence wasn't the only trait of Ondina's that had resulted from her foggy upbringing. Having no one to protect her, she'd needed to learn to be observant. After a particularly nasty incident involving a sharp piece of coral, Ondina had found her main goal in life. She didn't know what her place in the world was, but she at least had a will to survive.

Ondina was so observant that her heedful nature earned her a position of high-esteem in the pod. She was one of five other mermaids and mermen who had been chosen to be sentinels. Their job was the most important in the pod; the open ocean offered up many threats, including (but not limited to) curious humans. Whenever one of the lookouts spotted a problem, they would warn the rest of the pod to swim for cover, and then they would hide themselves. If worse came to worst, the members of the pod that had been trained for battle would be sent out to fight. Ondina had never actually witnessed this happening; in fact, in her two years of being in the pod, the worst thing she'd experienced was a lost, angry great white that kept the pod in hiding for two weeks.

Luckily for Ondina, her job was only part-time, so she had plenty of time to spare, and she often preferred to spend this time relaxing and reflecting on life in her small shelter. Every mermaid in the pod had their own living space. These shelters were just crevices and caves cut into the sides of the submarine canyon the pod had chosen as a home.

On the fateful day that started it all, Ondina spotted something that she had never noticed before. This came as a surprise to her, because, up until that moment, she had been sure that she knew every inch of the pod's land like the back of her hand. About ten feet above the entrance to her tiny cave, there was an opening in the canyon wall. The young mermaid racked her brain, trying to think of who might live there. After accounting for every mermaid in the pod, Ondina decided to swim up and investigate the opening.

Upon getting closer to the opening, Ondina started to understand why, as far as she was concerned, no one had ever took notice of it. It was about as small as a large sea turtle, certainly not large enough for a mermaid to fit through without great discomfort. She tilted her head and pushed her eye up against the small fissure, trying to see inside. To her dismay, she realized that the only way to be able to see the inside would be to squeeze through the fissure, because it was too dark to see. (Ondina noted that this was probably because the entrance was so small, there wasn't enough room for a significant amount of light to travel through it.)

"Hello?" the mermaid called into the opening. Her own voice echoed back to her. At this point, curiosity was starting to get the better of her, which almost never happened. Ondina had witnessed Sirena getting herself into too many unlawful situations to remain ignorant about the consequences of curiosity. But, the sudden impulse to investigate overcame her too quickly for her to fight it. Ondina glanced behind her. The canyon was busy and filled with mermaids finishing their tasks. No one was paying attention to her.

"Please don't let me be swimming into someone's home," the teenage mermaid prayed. Then, before anyone could stop her, she squirmed through the opening and into what appeared to be a small cave.

Inside the cave, it took Ondina a few minutes to adjust her eyes to the low lighting, but once she did, she started to make mental observations of it. The first thing Ondina observed about this cave was that there was nothing in it. The typical living quarters for a mermaid consisted of at least storage spaces filled with food and resources, but this particular cave was bare.

It didn't take long for Ondina to make her second observation of the cave. It was much larger than the average mermaid's living space. Ondina swam from one side of the cave to another, touching the walls. Despite the size of the entrance, this cave was roomier than she had expected it to be.

After a few more minutes, Ondina realized something else. The wall she hadn't touched yet, the back one, was dark compared to the others. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the mermaid realized that she wasn't looking at a back wall; she was looking at a tunnel.

The young sentinel started to swim through the tunnel, just to get a sense of how long the tunnel was. After about a minute, Ondina looked behind her. She had traveled about twenty feet by swimming slowly. Looking ahead, she noted that the tunnel didn't seem to have an end anywhere in sight.

Ondina swam back to what she had come to recognize as the main area of the cave and debated her options. She could just notify Lyla or one of the other sentinels about her discovery. She was almost positive that Lyla would want to hear about what she'd found. She could tell them about the cave, and then they could all investigate it together. They would travel through the tunnel, explore the other side, and make sure that the cave didn't mean any danger for the pod. That WAS the job of a sentinel, after all.

And yet…

There was a voice, a small voice, speaking from the back of Ondina's mind. The voice urged her to go. Slowly, Ondina swam closer to the tunnel. This time, she felt no skepticism; it was almost as if she had some sort of connection to whatever was on the other side of that tunnel, and it was pulling her to it, pushing her to swim on.

For the first time in her life, Ondina pushed her reservations to the back of her mind and followed her heart.

Ondina had been following the dark path for about a half hour before the tiniest bit of dread set in. Although she felt compelled to move on by the strange pull she felt, there was also a part of her that felt a sense of foreboding. She had been worrying about running into a fork in the pathway that would force her to choose a direction, making it easier to get lost. Instead of running into a choice, however, the tunnel just continued on without interruption.

" _What if there's something bad at the other end of the tunnel?"_ she distressed, " _Then my only option will be to go ALL the way back the way I came. There will be nowhere to hide!_ "

Still, she pressed onward, swimming through the darkness, although she had been in the cave for so long that the darkness no longer felt like darkness. She swam on for another fifteen minutes before her worries really began to consume her. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning through what Ondina presumed was still the canyon wall. What if something on the other end chased her? She would never make it all the way back without passing out. Or what if she did make it? Then she would have led a monster into the mermaid's land, and everybody she knew would be in danger. It would be all her fault.

Just as she was about to let her fears chase her back to the open ocean, Ondina heard a faint noise. She stopped swimming immediately and listened intently to the noise. It was hard to tell, but the noise seemed familiar. Certainly not like the growling of a monster.

Ondina decided to confirm her suspicions about the noise. She continued swimming through the tunnel. The farther in she swam, the louder the noise became, until, finally, it wasn't just a noise anymore.

"I can't believe we're finally sophomores!"

A voice.

As she identified the noise, Ondina turned one final corner, and, to her relief, reached the end of the tunnel. She swam out of the first tunnel… and right into another one.

Ondina, a mermaid who didn't get particularly angry about much, was about to scream in frustration when she heard a voice again, clear as day. This time it was a different voice, a slightly raspier one.

"Ugh, Emma, I can't believe you're excited about it! I can't even think about school right now. Can't we just enjoy the summer?"

"Of course! But that doesn't mean I'm not going to be preparing myself over vacation! I've got lots of studying to do if I want to maintain my grades!"

Ondina turned in a full circle, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. She wondered if the voices were other mermaids. A small part of her was excited at the prospect. She had never met mermaids that weren't from Lyla's pod, meaning that she hadn't made any new friends in two years. Ondina could be somewhat anti-social, but she was always excited to meet new mermaids, especially after so many years of feeling like the only mermaid in the world.

"I'm just happy we get to spend time with our friends in the reef! I feel like I haven't seen Bernie in ages,"

A third voice. This time, Ondina was listening intently. Slowly, she tilted her head upward. She could see the surface of the water, about five feet above her head, right at the end of the tunnel. Cautiously, she swam towards it. As she swam upwards, she considered the information she had just taken in. One of those voices was excited to visit someone named Bernie in the reef. Could she be talking about the reef next to the submarine canyon?

Ondina took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then she broke the surface.

It was sometime in the milliseconds that it took her to break the surface of the water that Ondina grasped a key piece of information. If she was breaking the surface of the water, then that meant that whatever was above was not the ocean. And if whatever was above wasn't the ocean, then the source of the voices weren't mermaids, and they weren't sea creatures either.

Humans.

Ondina assessed the area. Looking around, she realized she was in a small cavern of some sort. The cave was filled with sharp and jagged rocks that lined the sides, and it seemed to glow with some sort of mystical energy.

But, Ondina wasn't concentrating on the energy the cave was emitting. She was more focused on the source of the voices that she had just identified. In a corner of the cave, she had spotted three human girls, sitting on large boulders and stripping off their clothes. The girls were engrossed in conversation, but Ondina was silent anyway. She had no desire to be caught; she'd heard the stories the other mermaids of the pod told, stories about how humans polluted the ocean and captured mermaids for experimentation. If being in Lyla's pod had taught Ondina anything over the past two years, it was that humans were dangerous. They were not to be trusted, no matter how harmless they seemed. Lyla's own story was proof of that.

And yet, here she was, ten feet away from three human girls, spying on them.

The three humans seemed to be of about the same age. Ondina guessed that they couldn't be any older than herself or her friends. One of the girls had long, straight, raven black hair. Heightwise, she was in the middle of her two friends. The girl with messy, fiery red hair was the tallest of the three, while the girl with short, curly blonde hair was the shortest. A quick scan of the area showed Ondina that there were no weapons in sight. Besides herself, there were only the three girls and their clothes, laid out neatly on one of the largest rocks in a corner of the cave.

Suddenly, the girls turned and started walking towards the water. In a panic, Ondina dove below the surface and swam into the tunnel she had come out of. She swam ten feet before turning a corner and stopping to catch her breath. She heard a splash, and she turned the corner in a hurry, frightened that the girls had spotted her and were trying to follow her.

She was so shocked by what she actually saw that she stopped breathing.

The three humans were floating in the water, and they were starting to resemble something other than human. A magical aura seemed to surround the girls. Their legs were melding together in a whirl of light and energy. The shortest girl's blonde hair grew significantly in length. Sparkly hair combs appeared in each of the girls' hair. Finally, there was one final flash of energy. The flash was so bright that Ondina had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, the three girls were mermaids.

Ondina could feel her jaw drop. Each of the girls had long, shiny tails that nearly matched the color of their hair. Their tops had changed to match their tails, as well. The redheaded girl started to swim into the tunnel, and her friends followed. Ondina swore under her breath and ducked behind the corner.

"Let's follow this tunnel!" the voice exclaimed. Ondina guessed it was the voice of the tallest girl. There was a sigh.

"Rikki, we already went down the tunnel, remember? It was blocked at the end,"

Rikki. Ondina took note of the name. The redhead was named Rikki. At the same time, she felt a surge of gratitude towards whichever girl had answered Rikki.

"I just thought maybe we could try again. I don't know why, I just have a good feeling about it. I feel like there's something good on the other end of that tunnel."

The voice that had answered before answered again with skepticism. " That tunnel didn't even exist until about a week ago. I highly doubt anything's changed since last time,"

" _A week ago?_ " Ondina thought, " _That's probably why I never noticed it_ ,"

The third voice (that didn't seem to talk nearly as much as the other two voices) spoke this time, voicing her unspoken question.

"I wonder who dug the tunnel? I mean, there's no other way that I can think of that would explain it, and we would have noticed if it had been here before,"

"We can follow the tunnel later," the second voice answered, "We should head out to sea though. We can swim for a while, and then go back into the bay in time for dinner with Lewis,"

Ondina realized with a start that these humans (or whatever they were) weren't from around this area of the sea. She recalled a conversation she'd had with a lookout. The lookout had been voicing concern about staying in the canyon because it was close to a bay that served as the coast of a large landmass filled with humans. Undeterred, Lyla had insisted on staying, She was tired of losing resources and time to humans, the sentinel had told her. Tired of living in fear.

"Fine, mom, we'll go through the other tunnel, " Rikki teased, " But, tomorrow, we come back to explore,"

Then, it was silent except for the swishing sound of three tails. Ondina peeked out from behind the corner. The three mermaid-human things were swimming away. Ondina watched them until they turned into the second tunnel and swam out of sight. To be safe, she waited a few more minutes to make sure they were really gone. Part mermaid or not, you could never trust humans.

When she was sure she was alone, Ondina turned and swam back the way she had come as swiftly as she could. Her head was spinning.

" _How is it possible for humans to turn into mermaids like that?_ " she puzzled. Then, she had an even more alarming thought.

" _Do they have powers?_ " she wondered.

Ondina raced back to the pod with these thoughts. But, amidst the questions swirling around in her head, one requisite stuck out.

She needed to find Lyla. If these mermaid-human things stayed true to their word, they were going to follow the tunnel right to the canyon the next day. The entire pod would be discovered, and Ondina had no idea what side these three girls were on.

Time to find a solution was already running out.


	2. Chapter 1

It was a perfect summer day. The sun was hanging high in the sky, casting light and warmth over everything below it. The sky was blue with not a cloud in sight, and there was a slight breeze that kept the air from being too humid. The local flock of seagulls had returned for the season, and they pestered any citizen they could find that was carrying food. The city was abuzz with the usual commotion that ensued in the summer.

Rikki Chadwick took this all in with great pleasure as she hurried home. She had always loved the summer; an entire three months when she could do whatever she wanted to do, and she planned to use that time wisely. Water dripped from her crimson red hair, and a towel was wrapped around her shoulders to protect her dry set of clothes from getting wet. She walked swiftly through the streets of Dolphin City, passing bike riders and laughing children. She decided to take a quicker path and cut through the center of town.

The center of Dolphin City was filled with people. Tourists, people visiting relatives, and citizens all crowded the stores and restaurants. Some were licking ice cream cones; others were admiring souvenirs through the shop windows. A large group of teenagers that Rikki recognized from school passed her, heading in the direction of Dolphin City's movie theater. A year ago, Rikki and her two best friends would have been walking in the same direction as the rest of those teenagers. But, the events of the past year had made the ocean much more appealing to them.

Finally, after ten minutes of dodging people and pushing through crowds, Rikki reached the outskirts of town. She walked in a large circle to avoid the multitude of people surrounding the Juicy Bar and followed the road for another five minutes before she finally reached her house.

She swore she would never be able to get used to it.

The house wasn't particularly large or noticeable, but it was more than Rikki had ever lived in. It was two floors, with a (separate!) kitchen and dining room, as well as a living room on the first floor. The second floor consisted of not one, but two bathrooms, one of which was Rikki's. Also on the second floor of the house was the room that her father shared with Cathy, and her own bedroom. There was a decent-sized yard in back of the house, and a garage off to the side with a small parking lot in front of it. Just the sight of the house filled Rikki with excitement, even after two months of living in it. The house was a reminder that things were getting better. It was a reminder that her father no longer had to suffer through financial issues alone. In fact, since he had married Cathy, Mr.Chadwick had not had any more financial issues to deal with. Cathy had insisted that they were in this together now.

As grateful as Rikki was to Cathy, it still took a while to warm up to her. For the past eight years, she had been living with only her dad for company. But, after Mr. Chadwick proposed to Cathy, they decided it would be a better idea to try living together before getting married.

For the first two weeks, Rikki would forget that there was even another person in the house. But, by the end of the first month with Cathy, she had warmed up to her. In early April, her father proposed again, and their wedding was on Easter Day. The rest was history.

Nevertheless, it still felt strange, knowing that her father was married again. Sure, Rikki had warmed up to Cathy, but she wasn't quite ready to call her "mom" yet. The relationship she had with Cathy felt too formal for a close relationship; their conversations were all pleasantries and boring things about school. Most one on ones usually ended after about five minutes. The teenage girl knew in her heart that, although it had been almost a decade since it had happened, the title of "mom" still belonged to someone else, someone who was long gone.

It wasn't that Rikki disliked Cathy. Cathy was a responsible, caring person. She was determined, and she wouldn't give up on any problem until it was solved. She was also fun-loving and almost as daring as Rikki herself. No, it wasn't Cathy that Rikki disliked; it was what Cathy stood for.

Rikki had told herself that she wanted her father to be happy. She had told herself that it was bound to happen, that her father couldn't just cry himself to sleep forever. She knew in her heart that he would eventually find someone else. Expected it, even. The thing that had surprised her though, was the unexpected resentment.

Rikki was fifteen. She understood that people moved on. But, still, a tiny part of her hated her father for leaving her mother's memory in the past when she was still carrying it with her. She knew it was wrong. But, everyday, that tiny part of her was growing. Her feelings festered inside of her like some sort of parasite.

The worst part wasn't even feeling guilty for feelings she couldn't control. It was being afraid to tell anyone what she was feeling. Not even Emma and Cleo knew, and Rikki told them everything.

On that first day of summer vacation, Rikki approached her house secretly hoping that her stepmother had been forced to on an unexpected cruise. Although, she wasn't quite sure how this would happen (maybe the other captain got sick?).

However, when Rikki entered the house, she had no such luck. Cathy was sitting at the kitchen island, sipping a glass of lemonade and reading the newspaper. The woman glanced up upon hearing the door open, and when she spotted Rikki, a grin spread across her face.

"Hey kid!" she exclaimed. The redhead cringed. She hated it when Cathy called her kid, like she'd known her since she was little. Like she was her actual mother.

"Hi, Cathy," Rikki replied.

"Well," Cathy asked, "how was swimming with Emma and Cleo?"

Rikki was about to give her typical answer ("It was fine,") when she decided that she would try to make an effort to connect with Cathy, if only for her father's sake.

"Really fun, actually," she answered, trying to force some enthusiasm into her voice.

The effort seemed to pay off, because Cathy brightened up.

"That's great!" her stepmother exclaimed, "Did anything exciting happen?"

If there was one thing Rikki appreciated about Cathy, it was her sense of adventure. The most interesting conversations Rikki ever had with Cathy weren't even really conversations. She enjoyed listening to all of Cathy's stories at the dinner table. Her father was usually the one to continue any conversation at the table, while the teenage mermaid would just listen. She often resorted to speaking only when she was spoken to, which didn't happen much after Cathy figured out that Rikki didn't share her interest in forming a relationship.

Rikki wracked her mind, trying to think of something, anything, to say that didn't involve magical powers or talking crabs.

"Um… we found some cool seashells,"

Rikki could practically feel Cathy losing interest. But, to her credit, the young woman attempted to hide it.

"That's cool," she remarked. It seemed she couldn't think of anything to say.

"Yeah, I guess,"

An awkward silence settled over the kitchen like fog settling over a swamp. Rikki's stepmother looked down at her newspaper and took another sip of her lemonade. Rikki took that as her cue to leave. She started to head for her room, relieved that the encounter was over.

"Rikki, wait,"

Rikki turned, dreading what was coming. She'd never heard Cathy use that voice, but it was a voice she would recognize from anywhere. It was the voice an adult used when they wanted to talk about something serious. Slowly, Rikki approached the table.

"Um," she inquired, "do you need something?" Then, internally, she cringed.

 _Why did I have to sound so rude?_

"Yes, actually," Cathy responded. She set down her newspaper and glass of lemonade. Then, she motioned for Rikki to join her at the island.

Rikki took the seat directly across from her new family member. She was taken aback when Cathy reached across the table and grasped the girl's hands in hers.

"Listen, I know this is hard for you to handle. Honestly, this whole situation is taking some getting used to on my part as well," she confessed. Rikki noted that she seemed slightly nervous, like she was afraid of saying something wrong.

In that moment, Rikki wanted to say something. She wanted to say that it was okay, that she understood the complications of the situation, that she could work through them on her own. She wanted to say anything to make her stepmother feel better, anything to make herself less of a burden to this woman.

But instead, Rikki kept her mouth shut, because there it was again. That part of her that didn't want to let go of the past. The part of her that just couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

That part of her had been ingrained into her since she was eight years old, before she had even met Cathy. It had grasped her like an iron fist seven years prior, and it hadn't loosened its grip since then.

"I just wanted to tell you that…" Cathy continued nervously, "I'm trying Rikki. I'm trying to make this less painful for you. I know that it must be hard, what with your mother's death-"

"Are you seriously bringing that up?" Rikki snapped. She could feel the anger building up inside of her, about to explode. She pulled her hands away and crossed her arms in defense. Cathy looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry, but this needs to be addressed," she explained. She was beginning to sound more like an adult explaining something to a two year old. It was only irritating Rikki more.

"We live together now. That means that we see each other everyday-"

"We don't have to. Maybe you should just stop trying to create a bond with me, or whatever,"

"I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from," Cathy shouted, exasperated.

"I don't know why you keep freezing me out,"

Rikki laughed.

"You will NEVER understand me," she sneered, "You can try as hard as you'd like, but you'll never understand how I feel. You'll never know what it's like to be me,"

Cathy was quickly losing her temper.

"That's an awfully strange thing to say. I don't really think you have anything to be complaining about,"

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Rikki replied, her voice thick with fake understanding, "You fixed us, right? We were poor and struggling before you came and saved us with your money. We were practically useless, weren't we?"

"You know that's not what I meant,"

"Then what did you mean, exactly?"

"I'm just trying to be the mother you need at this point in your life!"

Rikki had no response to this. She could feel herself shaking with anger. The iron fist was gripping her tightly than it had ever gripped her before.

Cathy seemed to realize she'd said something wrong.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong," she apologized, "I'm not trying to replace your mother. I'm just saying that you're a teenage girl. You need a woman in your life to look up to,"

"You think you can just come here and fill some hole that I have," Rikki hissed, "But you can't. Nothing will ever fill that hole, and I'm sick of pretending to care that you're trying,"

At this, a silence fell over the kitchen. Cathy was staring down, avoiding eye contact. Rikki felt a wave of shame wash over her, but she pushed it down.

When Cathy finally looked up, Rikki could see the weariness in her eyes.

"You need to try and let go of her,"

Just like that, the world stood still. The redhead stood in disbelief, frozen, not believing what she was hearing.

Who is she to tell me that I need to let go?

Before Cathy could say another word, Rikki stood up and headed for the front door. As she passed Cathy, she knocked over her glass of lemonade. Cathy made no move to pick it up. The lemonade seeped into the newspaper, smudging the words.

"I'm going for a walk," Rikki announced, "I figured you should know. You know, because you're trying so hard to be a mother,"

It was silent until she reached for the doorknob.

"I didn't marry your father to be treated like this,"

White hot rage filled Rikki from head to toe.

"Well," she replied, "I wasn't born to have my mother taken from me. I guess sometimes things just happen, and we have to accept them,"

"That's a lesson you could stand to learn,"

Without turning back, Rikki opened the door and stomped out of the house. She slammed the door behind her and started to wander down the street. The teenage mermaid wasn't sure where she was going, exactly. All she knew was that she had to leave that house.

Rikki sat on the edge of the docks, splashing her feet in the water.

"She has absolutely no right to tell me that I need to get over my own mother," she muttered, picking up a pebble and flinging it into the sea. The pebble hit the water with a splash, and a series of ripples moved through the water.

"There you are!" The teenager turned at the sound of a familiar voice.

Emma and Cleo, her two best friends, were jogging down the dock towards her. When they reached the end of the platform, Cleo was panting and sweating from the effort. Emma, however, seemed unfazed.

"I sent you at least twenty messages and tried to call you twice.Why haven't you been answering your phone?" she inquired, looking at her curiously.

Rikki turned away in shame. She hadn't meant to shut out her friends.

Staring out at the bay, Rikki answered, "Sorry. I put my phone on silent. I guess I just didn't feel like talking to anybody,"

Cleo and Emma glanced at each other, and Rikki could practically hear the silent conversation they were having. Cleo sat down on one side of Rikki while Emma sat down on the other. The three girls sat in silence while Rikki prepared an answer for the inevitable question she was about to be asked. It was Cleo who asked it.

"So, Rikki," the raven haired girl asked, "What's wrong?" There was a tiny hint of fear in Cleo's voice. Any other person would have just mistaken it for Cleo's personality. Cleo was a shy person who tended to get anxious in certain social settings. But Rikki knew Cleo enough to know that if there were any two people that Cleo was almost never anxious around (excluding family), it was herself and Emma. Rikki heard the fear in Cleo's voice as almost cautious, as if Cleo was afraid of chasing her off.

First Cathy, and now her own friends were walking on eggshells around her. Who would it be next, her father?

"I guess I'm just kind of sad that freshman year is over," the redhead lied. Cleo and Emma glanced at each other again, and Rikki saw the confusion in their faces. Rikki was not generally the type of person to particularly care about school. Before she could spit out a fake explanation for her lie, Emma was onto her.

"Um, since when do you get sad about three months of no school?" she puzzled. The way she was staring at Rikki made her uncomfortable, like she was trying to see into her mind and pick out her secrets.

"Yeah, getting sad about summer vacation is more Lewis' thing," Cleo chimed in. She was trying to make a joke, but the concern creeping into her voice was obvious. The last thing Rikki wanted was to trouble her friends.

"Guys, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine," she insisted. Her two best friends looked unconvinced. Rikki sighed.

"Look," she explained, trying to lighten up her voice, "I guess I'm just sad that the year is over because it was kind of an adventure, you know? First year of high school, mixed with becoming mermaids and all sorts of other stuff. It was exciting,"

"So you're… nostalgic?" Emma asked. She was looking more and more suspicious with every word that passed through Rikki's lips.

"I guess," Rikki replied. She could tell that her friends were completely unconvinced by her lame story. Emma looked as if she wanted to push the subject further, but, fortunately for Rikki, Cleo stepped in, sensing that her friend clearly didn't want to talk about what was affecting her.

"Well, now that we found you, why don't we all go check out that tunnel we re-discovered yesterday!" Cleo exclaimed, "We have enough time to check it out before we have to meet Lewis later,"

"Oh, shoot!" Rikki cried, jumping up, "I completely forgot about that!"

Lewis had invited the girls to meet his cousin Charlotte, who was visiting for the summer. From what Lewis had told them, Charlotte was their age, and she was just as smart as her Dolphin City cousin. She was studying to be an astronaut, which Rikki found extremely interesting.

Rikki gathered up the towel and beach bag she had brought for the swim.

"Where are you going?" Cleo asked.

"I didn't shower or anything after the swim! I need to get clean clothes and stuff!"

"Right, because you were so upset about school ending," Emma stated, trying but not really trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Cleo moved over and elbowed Emma gently.

"I'm sorry, you guys should just go without me!" Rikki answered, ignoring Emma's comment.

"Are you sure? You're not one to miss out on an adventure," Emma said. Rikki shook her head.

"I don't want to smell like fish and saltwater when we meet Charlotte. You guys can go ahead. I'll go another time,"

"Well, okay," Cleo said. The surprise of the two other mermaids was evident, but the third teenage mermaid shrugged it off.

"See you guys later!"

With that, Rikki took off in the direction of her house. As she left, she heard her friends saying goodbye, but she didn't turn around to acknowledge them. It was too hard, looking at them while she was upset but not wanting to tell them what was actually wrong. If they pushed any harder, Rikki knew she would crack.

"Maybe they'll just forget about it," she hoped.

When the teen reached her house, she was relieved to see that neither of the adults in the house were home. She felt a stab of guilt when she noticed the spare key peeking out from an envelope in the mailbox. There was a note written on it.

 _You left your key on the table. It might be sticky, there's some lemonade on it. Your father and I are out grocery shopping_.

Suddenly, the appeal in having the house to herself disappeared. Rikki unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"I'll just have to get ready quickly," she thought, "Then I can get out of here,"


	3. Chapter 2

"What do you think is wrong with Rikki?" Cleo asked.

Cleo and Emma were sitting next to the Moon Pool. The inside of the cave was cool and dark except for the sunlight that managed to creep through the secret entrance near the top. The mermaid trio still hadn't taken the time to cover up the hole so no more unsuspecting tourists would fall into the cave and get turned into mermaids. Emma and Cleo had been insisting that it needed to be done for months now, but Rikki always had better ideas that occupied their time. As the inventive thrill seeker of the group, her absence was largely felt.

"I don't know what's wrong with her," Emma replied, "But she's definitely not acting like herself,"

"Exactly," Cleo exclaimed, "I mean, nostalgic about school ending? C'mon, Rikki put more effort into counting down the days til summer than she did on any work this year!"

"It just bothers me that she won't tell us what's going on," Emma stated. Cleo nodded in agreement.

Cleo, Emma, and Rikki had known each other since third grade. Emma had been a bookworm who only cared about schoolwork, while Cleo was too shy to even answer questions in class. On Rikki's first day at Dolphin City Middle School, their English teacher had split the class into groups for a book report on Old Yeller. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo had been placed in the same group, and the rest was history. They'd known each other since before they'd become mermaids; Cleo and Emma had been there for Rikki as she grieved her late mother. Rikki and Cleo had helped Emma when she had to babysit her brother because her mother stayed late for work. Emma and Rikki had begrudgingly followed Cleo through the Oceanic Center's observatory in ninety degree weather, carrying Cleo's various notebooks and folders of information on aquatic creatures. They'd turned into mermaids together. They'd had their lives changed on the same day, in the same pool.

They'd been through all that together, and yet, Rikki was still acting distant.

"I know. It bothers me too," Cleo replied, placing a hand on Emma's shoulder. The curly haired girl sighed.

"We should probably go into the tunnel if we want to make it back in time to get ready to meet Charlotte,"

Cleo nodded in agreement, and the two girls finished undressing. Together, they dived into the pool and waited as their legs transformed into tails. The two friends closed their eyes as the mystical energy consumed them, swirling around them and surrounding them like a swarm of mosquitos.

It only took about thirty seconds to change. When their legs were gone, Emma and Cleo set off down the mysterious tunnel. They swam in silence for a few minutes, both thinking. Emma was the first to speak.

"So, I wonder how long Charlotte will be here in Dolphin City," she mused, "Like, is she staying all summer, or just for a few weeks?"

"Oh, much longer than that, probably," Cleo replied. Emma looked at her in confusion.

"Don't tell Lewis I told you this, because he told me not to tell anybody, but Charlotte's family is moving to Dolphin City," Cleo explained.

"WHY would they want to do that?" Emma asked in bewilderment, "Don't they practically live in a mansion?"

"Apparently, Mr. Watsford was offered a huge promotion to move here. He gets a job as a professor at Dolphin University, and his wife gets a teaching job there, too,"

"I can't imagine that Charlotte is happy about this,"

"Lewis told me that she's okay with it,"

"Hang on a minute!" Emma exclaimed, "You said Lewis told you not to tell anybody! Why didn't he tell us?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise, but Lewis decided to tell me. Don't tell Rikki, though,"

"Oh, I see," Emma teased, "And Lewis trusted YOU and not Rikki and I?"

Cleo turned bright red at this and stared at the ground as they swam.

"I mean-I guess, well, he's, um, known me longer," Cleo stammered, trying to keep her voice calm, "Like, since kindergarten. And, I don't know, maybe-"

"Relax Cleo," Emma cut her off with a smirk.

"It's okay. We all know you and Lewis have a special relationship,"

"We do not!" Cleo cried defiantly, "We're just really good friends,"

"REALLY good friends are like you, me, and Rikki," Emma replied, "REALLY good friends don't, however, buy heart shaped lockets for their REALLY good friend,"

"You have no proof that he bought it!"

"I have a hunch, and so does Rikki,"

Cleo was about to berate Emma and Rikki for siding against her when the two teens realized they had reached a dead end. They floated midwater, examining the rocky wall in front of them.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing Rikki didn't come," Emma stated, "She would've been sorely disappointed by this,"

"Oh well, I'm sure we'll have plenty of adventures this summer, if Rikki has anything to say about it," Cleo said, and then both girls laughed.

"I'll race you back to the cave?" Emma challenged her friend. Cleo nodded, accepting the challenge.

"Okay, but just be prepared to lose. I've been practicing," Cleo teased. Emma snorted.

"Oh please," she laughed, "You'll be eating my dust. You're just sore because I know how you feel about- hey!"

Emma tried as hard as she could, but Cleo had been almost halfway through the tunnel before she had even realized the raven haired girl was gone. For the first time ever, Emma lost a swimming race.

"I haven't... been in the pool... in ages. I'm just... out of practice," Emma insisted, panting as she pulled herself out of the Moon Pool to sit beside her smug friend.

"We're mermaids, we swim all the time!"

"Well, you cheated!" Emma blurted out. Cleo giggled.

"Look how the mighty have fallen," she teased. Emma just rolled her eyes.

They sat there like that, talking and laughing as they pulled on their clothes. Then, when they were fully dressed, the two secret mermaids left the cave.

"Isn't it beautiful out here?" Isabella asked, taking in her surroundings as she and her friend strolled along a pathway leading into the trees. As the two girls walked further, the burning sand gave way to cool dirt, and they were given shelter from the sun by the trees. Seagulls cawed in the distance.

This was the first time in weeks that she and Evie had been able to make it to Mako Island for a rehearsal session. The last time they had come, they had nearly been spotted by three girls whom Isabella had recognized from school. Evie had insisted that it wasn't a big deal to rehearse in front of them, but Isabella disagreed. There was something about the island that was special.

Singing had been a part of her life since seventh grade. It had started out as a lifeline that she had desperately clung to. But, over the years, it had grown into a passion. As much as Isabella loved to share her talent with others, the island was the one place that she wanted to keep to just herself and Evie. They had made so many memories on Mako, and the memories weren't only of practicing music. The island was the place where the two girls had bonded. It just felt wrong to allow intruders into the place they had become best friends.

"It really is," Evie agreed, "Aren't you glad I dragged you out here three years ago?"

"Yeah, I haven't forgiven that," the singer replied, "You pushed me onto the speedboat!"

Evie shook her head in denial, but a small smile was growing on her face.

"I didn't push you. You tripped,"

"Okay, fine, I tripped. Sure," Isabella replied, "If that's what eases your guilt, then so be it,"

Evie ran ahead a few steps, jumping over a miniature stream and landing in a crouch right on a moss covered stone. She stood and threw up her hands with a dramatic flair.

"How could I feel guilty when going on that trip meant finding all of THIS?" the brown haired girl exclaimed. She motioned to the beautiful scenery surrounding the two girls. Isabella giggled.

"I guess you're right," she sighed, taking in the beauty of the forest around them. The island was really unlike any place she had seen before. From a glance, it appeared to be a normal island. But, once a person traveled deep enough into the forest, they would be surprised to find hidden pools of blue water, waterfalls, and even an abandoned village that appeared to have belonged to a group of primitive people. But, by far the most interesting part of Mako was the cave in the side of a tall, rocky structure that almost seemed to be an old, inactive volcano. Evie and Isabella had discovered the cave on their first day spent on Mako Island. That cave, and the mysterious energy it seemed to pulse with, had cemented their decision that the island was destined to be their rehearsal spot. The two friends were convinced that they were meant to find Mako; it had been written in the stars they'd followed on that early morning in August, one year prior.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Evie and Isabella found their second favorite cave. They had decided to make a quick visit to the cave so Isabella could warm up before the girls returned to Dolphin City. Isabella was set to perform a song for the evening customers at the Juicy Bar. This gig was a huge deal; it would be the first time Isabella performed in public.

The two best friends entered the cave and found spots on the cold, stone ground. This cave wasn't as large or mystical as the volcano cave, but there was something cozy about it that both Evie and Isabella had learned to appreciate. As Isabella took a few deep breaths and sang up and down the scale, Evie took out her phone and pulled out the recording she had taken of the guitar instrumental for Isabella's song. No matter how much Evie insisted, Isabella would never take the guitar onto the speedboat. It had been a birthday gift from her sister. The instrument reminded her of one of the points of light that blocked out the darkness of her past. The talented girl just couldn't afford to lose it.

"So," Evie wondered aloud, "How nervous are you?"

Isabella grinned. Evie didn't even need to ask if she was nervous; she already knew. That was something she loved about the friendship she shared with Evie. They could read each other's minds as easily as if they were sisters.

"So nervous I feel like I might throw up," Isabella replied, "So if you see me starting to turn green out there, do me a favor and cause an intervention,"

Evie just laughed.

"I'll make sure I have some silly string on hand in case of an emergency,"

"Seriously?" the singer argued, "You're going to stage an intervention with silly string?"

"It's the best I can do without tarnishing my image," Evie answered with a shrug, "If I ruin mine, then I ruin yours. We're business partners,"

Isabella sighed.

"Seriously though, I don't know if I can do this," she worried, "I've been doing this alone for three years now. You and my family are the only people who have ever heard me sing. What if everybody else hates my voice?"

"They won't." Evie replied with a smirk.

"I've paid everyone to be in the audience. If you play an encore from a popular emo band, they promised to scream like you're Beyonce when you're done,"

"Evie!" Isabella complained, giving her friend a light punch on the shoulder, "I'm seriously freaking out right now,"

Evie could sense the fear in her best friend, and she sighed.

"Look," she reasoned, "I've been cheering you on for three years. Your family has been cheering you on for three years. You MUST be sick of us by now. I know that you want to hear some new people cheering for you. Everybody wants to be recognized for something they're good at,"

"I want to be recognized. I'm just not sure if I'm ready," the blonde haired girl stated, hanging her head. Evie moved closer and put a hand on Isabella's shoulder.

"When you're out there, just do what you do best," she said, "Just sing from your heart. Put feeling into it, and enjoy yourself. If you have fun, that's all that matters,"

Isabella smiled, feeling some of her confidence return.

"Thank you," she said, wrapping Evie in a tight hug, "I don't know what I would do without you pushing me into things,"

"No problem. You'll always have me to push you onto speedboats and force you into promising adventures,"

Both girls laughed and broke the hug. Suddenly, Evie's face turned serious.

"Okay, we have about a half hour left here before we need to head back and get ready, so warm up!" she demanded, " I can't have a bad performer ruining my new image. I'm a reliable manager now,"

"Oh, are you?" Isabella teased.

"I heard Taylor Swift was even considering leaving hers for me,"

"I'll be sure not to ruin your career tonight," Isabella answered with a smile. Evie smiled back.

"I know you won't."


	4. Chapter 3

Charlotte Watsford was alone and slightly terrified.

She had visited her relatives in Dolphin City once before when she was young, but she hadn't visited since. As a person that liked to be prepared, Charlotte was displeased to see that her cousin's punctuality had been over exaggerated by her mother. She'd been stuck in the airport for twenty minutes already, waiting for Lewis to come pick her up. The blonde worried that her cousin had forgotten her.

The last time Charlotte had seen Lewis in person, they were both five years old. The two cousins frequently texted and called each other, but it just wasn't the same as actually spending time together.There would be plenty of time to make up for the years lost in their relationship, though.

While some would think her parents' sudden decision to move would be upsetting, Charlotte was actually excited for the change. She had been so lonely in her old school. In Charlotte's eyes, the move to Dolphin City was an opportunity to make friends and become more involved. It was her chance to be a normal teenager, and she wasn't about to throw it away.

Just as Charlotte was about to grab a snack from the vending machine, she spotted two familiar people swiftly walking in her direction. One person was a tall boy with messy brown hair. The girl walking beside him was slightly shorter, with long, raven colored hair and wide eyes. As they got closer, Charlotte recognized them.

Her cousin had arrived, and one of his best friends, Cleo Sertori, was trailing alongside him. Charlotte realized that there were also two other girls with him. One had short, curly blonde hair. The other was a redhead.

All of a sudden, Charlotte was filled with excitement. She figured that the other two girls must be Lewis's other friends, Emma and Rikki, except she wasn't sure who was who. She still remembered the day that Lewis texted her, worrying that he was being replaced because Cleo had brought two new friends to their table at lunch. If these girls were Lewis's best friends, then she would probably be seeing a lot of them. Cleo, Rikki, and Emma could be her first new friends.

"Charlotte!" Lewis shouted, nearly tripping over his own two feet. He had started to run towards her, and his three companions struggled to keep up. Once he reached his cousin, he threw his arms around her in a tight embrace, which Charlotte gladly returned.

Cleo and the other two girls stopped when they reached the cousins, breathing heavily. After a few more awkward moments, Charlotte coughed. Lewis stepped away from his cousin and laughed nervously.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, "I've just really missed you,"

Charlotte laughed and pulled her awkward cousin into another hug.

"That's okay," she replied, "I've really missed you, too,"

All of a sudden, Lewis seemed to realize that he hadn't introduced his companions. He pulled out of the hug, embarrassed.

"I should probably introduce you to my friends," he said, and pointed to the girl with blonde hair.

"This is Emma," he said, and then he pointed to the girl with bright red hair.

"That's Rikki,"

Charlotte gave a quick wave to the other two girls, and they waved back, smiling. Lewis was about to continue to Cleo, but Charlotte interrupted him.

"You don't need to introduce us," she said, "We already know each other,"

Cleo giggled and quickly hugged her old friend. "It's been such a long time since you've visited,"

"This isn't a visit, though," Charlotte replied, confused.

"I'm moving here,"

"What?!?" the girl named Rikki exclaimed, turning on Lewis. Charlotte noticed the small smile on her cousin's face.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" he replied, "Charlotte is moving to Dolphin City. Permanently,"

"Well, we aren't sure if it's permanent yet," Charlotte cut in, "But there's a good chance that my parents will want to stay here. They both got a really great job opportunity from this move,"

Cleo and Emma simultaneously squealed at the news, but Rikki looked as if she had just found out that SHE was moving.

"I can't believe this!" she exclaimed. She turned on Lewis and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yeah, actually," Charlotte wondered aloud, "Why didn't you tell them?"

Lewis shrugged. "I figured it would be a pleasant surprise,"

"It definitely is!" Emma replied cheerfully. She threw an arm around Charlotte's shoulders, and Charlotte smiled.

Rikki seemed to have recovered from her shock, and the excitement was now settling in.

"We have to take you on a tour of the town, if you're going to be living here. There's so much to see! There's the beach, the aquatic life center, Mako-"

"You have to try a smoothie from the Juicy Bar, too, they're to die for," Cleo interrupted. Charlotte didn't miss the stern look that the shorter girl gave Rikki. Lewis just laughed.

"Let's just take it slow," he said, and then, turning to his cousin, "Why don't the two of us head back to my house first? We can drop your stuff off and check in with my parents,"

"Why don't you guys meet us at the Juicy Bar afterwards?" Cleo suggested, "We can grab a smoothie and show Charlotte around,"

"I like that idea," Charlotte replied with a smile.

"Then, after the tour, we can grab some dinner," Rikki added, causing her friends to laugh.

"Classic Rikki, always thinking about food," Emma giggled.

"That sounds like a great plan," Lewis said, "But if we want to have time for dinner we better get moving,"

"Alright," Charlotte replied. She picked up two of her suitcases, and Lewis picked up the other two.

"Catch you guys later!" she exclaimed, and the trio of girls waved as she and her cousin walked away.

Charlotte stood out on her cousin's front porch, leaning on the railing. She closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling of the sun hitting her skin, the smell of the salty water, and the cool breeze that blew her way. This was nothing like her old home. While Boston and Dolphin City were both urban areas, Dolphin City was the more peaceful of the two. To Charlotte, this place was the complete opposite of Boston. Where Boston was cold, crowded, and even somewhat unfriendly, Dolphin City was pleasant, and it seemed like every resident knew each other, despite the city's size. Charlotte normally enjoyed summer for three months every year, but in Florida, it seemed like every day was summer.

"Enjoying yourself?"

The blonde jumped and whipped around, frightened by the voice. Lewis was standing in the doorway of the house. He walked to join his cousin by the railing. When he reached her, Charlotte reached out and elbowed him.

"Ouch!" Lewis exclaimed, "You know, if you girls don't stop hurting me, I might have to report you for harassment,"

Charlotte laughed.

"You picked a bad time to scare me," she replied, looking out into the busy street, "I was enjoying the quiet,"

Lewis snorted.

"You call THIS quiet?" he asked, and Charlotte nodded.

"It is to me," she explained, "Boston was much louder, and also much bigger,"

"Do you miss your old home at all?" Lewis asked. Charlotte thought for a minute. She'd been so excited to come to live in Florida that she hadn't really considered all of the things she'd be leaving behind.

"I mean, I guess I'll miss a few things. You know, just, little things about Boston that were familiar to me, like how the couple next door always fought over who was more responsible,"

Both Charlotte and her cousin laughed at this, and then Charlotte continued. "But, I never really made many close friends at my old school, and the only relatives besides my parents that I know live here, so I don't think the transition will be too difficult,"

Lewis smiled. "Good, because I have plans for this summer, and I can't have you moping around and making all of my friends sad,"

"Oh, that reminds me," Charlotte said, smirking, "Since when did you start getting all the girls?"

The blonde laughed at the way her cousin's face turned bright red.

"I met Emma and Rikki after you visited, and we've been friends ever since," he quickly explained.

"Didn't you have a crush on Cleo, though?" Charlotte asked, "I vaguely remember trying to convince you to buy her flowers,"

At this, Lewis turned even redder than before, and Charlotte came to a conclusion that made her squeal.

"You STILL like her, don't you?!?" she shouted excitedly. Lewis put his hands up to shush her and looked around nervously to see if anyone nearby had heard. Then, he looked back at his cousin. The shorter girl was staring at him with a huge smile plastered on her face, waiting for his answer. With a sigh, Lewis nodded his head.

"Yes, I still like Cleo," he replied, "But keep quiet about it, okay? I haven't exactly told her,"

Charlotte couldn't stop the laughter before it left her mouth. "You STILL haven't told her? Lewis, it's been ten years!"

At this, her geeky cousin just shrugged.

"I'll tell her when it feels right,"

Charlotte was about to make a comment about the time being right ten years ago, but Lewis abruptly changed the subject.

"My parents will be home later tonight, so you'll get to see them after dinner," he hurriedly explained, "But for now we should probably go meet Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. I don't want to keep them waiting,"

With that, Lewis locked the door behind him and set off. Charlotte trailed behind him, unable to wipe the smirk off her face.

"There are only five deluxe shakes to choose from here, but I can't even pick from these!" Rikki thought, staring at her menu. She contemplated her choices for a few more minutes and then, when she had made her decision, set down her menu with a sigh.

The table was quiet. Emma, Cleo, Lewis, and Charlotte were all still deciding what they wanted to order. Rikki couldn't hold back her smirk when she noticed Cleo inch closer to Lewis. She caught Emma's eye, and they exchanged a smile. Then, Emma went back to reading her menu, and Rikki went back to being bored.

The redhead gazed out over the balcony their table was located on. The balcony overlooked the sea, and it seemed to Rikki that it was calling to her. A cool breeze blew in from the open water and protected her and her friends from becoming too hot in the burning Florida sun.

Rikki turned her attention back to Lewis's cousin, who was sitting across from her. Charlotte had taken the seat next to Lewis, and she was staring at her menu intently. Rikki wondered what Charlotte was thinking of their town so far. But, before she could ask, the new girl out down her menu and sighed, causing everyone at the table to look at her.

"Why can't we just go get in line and order off the big menu like everybody else?" she asked, "The line is getting bigger with every minute we sit here,"

Rikki, Emma, and Lewis exchanged looks and then all turned their gaze upon Cleo, who blushed.

"I hate ordering off the big menu because it takes me a while to figure out what I want, and I don't want to hold up everybody else in line," Cleo explained.

"But," Charlotte protested, "Look at how long that line is! If we go wait in line now, you'll have plenty of time to figure out what you want before we have to order,"

Cleo looked to her friends for help, as if she were expecting someone to say something. Emma, sitting beside Rikki, spoke up.

"Cleo hates the cashier up there with a burning passion," she explained, "But she hates to talk about it because she doesn't want to accidentally cause drama,"

Charlotte was looking over at the cash register and the girl who stood behind it, wearing a Juicy Bar uniform and an uninterested expression.

"The one with the pink hair?" she asked, and everyone else nodded.

"Her name is Miriam," Rikki stated, "and she's like what would happen if you combined everything that you hate the most in the world and then dipped it in a steaming pot of Hell,"

Everyone laughed. Even Cleo, who Rikki knew would normally scold her friend for saying such a thing, found it amusing.

"Hey, guys, maybe we should just skip the shakes and start the tour," Lewis suggested, "We can grab ice cream or something while we walk around the city,"

"I can't believe you guys call this a city," Charlotte remarked.

"Why not?" Emma inquired, curious.

"The city I'm from is super crowded and loud all the time," Charlotte explained, "Nothing like this city,"

"That sounds horrible," Cleo replied.

"Well," Charlotte said, "to me, it wasn't really horrible, but it also wasn't ideal. I've always wanted to live somewhere quiet, where it's easier to study and relax,"

"I told them about how you want to be an astronaut," Lewis said. Rikki nodded enthusiastically.

"That's honestly so cool," the redhead stated, admiration in her voice. Charlotte smiled.

"We can actually start the tour at Dolphin City university, if you'd like," Cleo suggested, "They have an amazing science program set up for those who want to go into a science related career,"

"I'd love to start there!"

Rikki stood up first.

"We should get going then," she said, "We aren't getting any younger, and you only live once,"

"That's Rikki's life philosophy," Emma explained, and Rikki nodded. Charlotte laughed.

With that, the four friends left the Juicy Bar, and Rikki felt a wave of calm wash over her. When she was with her friends, everything felt just like the old days, before her father had gotten remarried. It had only happened a few months ago, but to Rikki, it felt like it had been years.

Thoughts of her stepmother and the fight from earlier crept into her mind, and Rikki pushed them out.

"I'm not going to let her ruin my summer," she thought. Thoughts of Cathy were nonexistent for the rest of the afternoon.


	5. Chapter 4

The sun had almost set by the time Lewis dragged Charlotte, Cleo, Emma, and Rikki back to his place.

"I almost forgot," he panted, "I wanted to show you guys something before dinner,"

Lewis was walking down the street so fast that the others were practically running to keep up. After what seemed like forever, they turned a corner onto Lewis's street.

"We're in the home stretch now," Rikki muttered. Charlotte assumed that the comment was directed at herself and the other two girls, but she didn't have the energy to respond.

Finally, the group of four reached the house. They stumbled onto the dimly lit porch just as Lewis was unlocking his front door. He stepped aside, holding open the door. His friends and his cousin ambled into the house, breathing heavily. Lewis stepped into the house and turned on the lights in the entryway. He closed the door behind him with a thud, and he motioned for the girls to follow him up the stairs to his room.

"Lewis, is that you?" a voice called from the kitchen. With a twinge of excitement, Charlotte recognized the voice as her aunt's. Lewis looked startled, and Charlotte remembered what he had told her earlier; her aunt and uncle weren't supposed to be home yet. Lewis seemed to remember the same thing, because a look of confusion dawned on his face.

"Mom?" he asked.

"I'm home early," the voice replied, "Is your cousin with you?"

Lewis sighed impatiently and motioned for the other girls to follow him into the kitchen. Charlotte went ahead of Rikki, Cleo, and Emma, eager to see her aunt for the first time in years.

When Charlotte walked into the kitchen, she locked eyes with the pretty women standing behind the counter. A warm smile broke out over her aunt's face at the sight of her niece.

"Charlotte," she said, "It's so good to see you again, sweetie,"

Charlotte felt herself grin.

"It's good to see you too, Aunt Clara,"

Aunt Clara walked around the counter. When she reached Charlotte, she pulled her into a tight embrace. When they broke apart, the older woman took her relative by the shoulders.

"You've gotten so tall!" she exclaimed, "I remember the last time I saw you, you had to stand on your tiptoes to reach the top of the counter!"

They both laughed, and it was then that Aunt Clara seemed to notice her son and the three other girls standing in the doorway. She smiled at them.

"Hello Cleo, Emma, Rikki," she greeted them, and then, to Lewis, "Are you all staying for dinner? I'm not sure if I'm making enough food, I thought you were all eating out tonight,"

"No mom, we aren't staying for long," Lewis replied, "I just wanted to show them my project for the science fair quickly, and then we'll head out,"

"I still don't understand why you won't show me your project," Aunt Clara replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice. Lewis shook his head, and Charlotte thought for a moment that she saw something like fear in his eyes.

"Mom, I already told you, it's a surprise," he replied, "I'm just letting the girls see it because I need their help with something,"

Aunt Clara seemed to buy it, because she let the group of five go upstairs without a hint of suspicion. But Charlotte knew better. The last time she'd seen that look of fear in her cousin's eyes, he'd been hiding a frog in his room for a science experiment and it had gotten free. She remembered her aunt and uncle driving themselves wild trying to figure out what the croaking noise was until Lewis finally came clean.

As soon as the teenagers were halfway up the stairs and out of Aunt Clara's earshot, Charlotte asked, "Why are you lying to her? "

The trio of best friends trailing behind the two cousins all looked strangely at Charlotte, confused by her sudden accusation. But Lewis seemed to know exactly what she was talking about.

"You'll see why in a minute," he answered, and then he hurried up the rest of the stairs, leaving the four girls to catch up.

Once they reached the top of the staircase, Lewis took a right and headed for a door at the end of the hall. Cleo, Charlotte, Emma, and Rikki all walked behind him. When Lewis reached the door to his room, he opened it and motioned for the girls to go inside. Once they were all in, he entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Charlotte stared at everything in the unfamiliar space, taking it in. The last time she'd visited her aunt and uncle, she and her cousin were both only five. Lewis's wall had been plastered with crudely drawn diagrams of the impractical inventions his mind dreamed up, like a road that led right off the ground and up into space, allowing drivers some sort of space highway. Lewis thought it was a cool alternative to air travel, but Charlotte thought that it threatened the need for spaceships and astronauts. If a road could function in space, then why couldn't one be built all over space?

That conversation seemed childish now, Charlotte thought, as she examined the room. Gone were the badly drawn diagrams and silly paperclip models of inventions. The walls were covered with posters of famous inventors and official-looking diagrams drawn on graph paper. Charlotte noticed his cluttered desk, and she walked closer to examine it. The desk was covered with stacks of notes and even more drawings.

"Wow," she stated, "Lewis, is this what you've been doing for the past ten years?"

"Well," he replied, "It isn't ALL I've been doing. My inventions are all in the garage,"

"Your inventions?" Charlotte asked, surprised, "What have you invented?"

Lewis responded with, "Just little things to make everyday life easier," at the same time that Cleo exclaimed, "All sorts of cool things! He's even made a robot that can function underwater by hand!"

Lewis blushed at the compliment and thanked her, causing Cleo to blush as well. Emma and Rikki smirked at the interaction, but Charlotte was too in awe of her cousin's accomplishments to notice.

"Lewis, that's a huge deal!" she exclaimed, "Creating something like that is impressive, especially for a high schooler! Why don't you enter that into the science fair?"

"Well," he explained, looking slightly thrown off by all the attention, "I actually already entered it into a contest,"

"Yeah, and he won," Rikki added enthusiastically, "He won a scholarship to Dolphin City University!"

Charlotte stared at her cousin in shock. Creating the robot was impressive, but winning a college scholarship as a freshman? That was completely shocking.

"How come you didn't tell me about any of this?" she inquired, trying to hide the hurt that was starting to fester about being left out of the loop. Lewis seemed to notice that his cousin was slightly offended.

"Well, I guess we were just both really busy," he replied, "And then we kind of grew apart, and we just stopped talking, so I guess I never thought to reach out,"

Charlotte was feeling really hurt now, and she could tell that it was starting to show in her expression by the concern on Lewis's face. The other girls didn't seem to notice except for Cleo, who looked curiously between the two relatives.

"I could show you all the stuff in the garage later, when we have more time," Lewis said hastily, trying to make up for his lame excuse, "But my project for the fair is actually in my room,"

"Why is it not with your other inventions?" Emma inquired, "Are you hiding it from your mom?"

"I am, actually," Lewis replied, looking slightly ashamed.

"My mom always checks in on the garage to see what I'm working on. If she decides to poke around and finds this, she'll make me get rid of it,"

Now all four girls were staring at him, full of interest.

"Get rid of what?" Cleo asked, and Charlotte could tell that she was becoming worried by the note of concern in her voice. She herself started to feel uneasy, and she wondered if Rikki and Emma were feeling the same way. She glanced at the other two girls, and while Emma had a similar look of concern plastered on her face, Rikki only looked curious.

Lewis shuffled awkwardly over to his closet and opened the door. He vanished within it for about ten seconds before he returned with a large fish tank. Three giant goldfish swam around in it. Upon closer examination, Charlotte thought that they looked rather terrified.

Rikki snorted, amused, and Charlotte almost did the same. THIS was what he was so worried about his mother finding?

Cleo, however, didn't seem pleased.

"Lewis, how could you do that to those fish?" she exclaimed, horrified, "Those poor things have been alone, in the dark, for who knows how long!"

"They've only been in there since this morning!" Lewis countered, setting the tank on top of his cluttered desk.

"Cleo tends to get defensive of animals, especially aquatic creatures," Emma explained to Charlotte, "She works at the Oceanic Center here in the city,"

Charlotte didn't exactly need Emma to tell her this. She remembered the countless times that Cleo had gotten into arguments with Lewis for trying to bring home sea turtles and other sea creatures for his experiments when they were younger. It wasn't a surprise to her that Cleo was now working at a conservation center for marine life.

Rikki seemed to be getting impatient. "Is this seriously all you wanted to show us?" she asked, "Because if this is it, we could've just gone to the pet store,"

"No, this isn't the project," Lewis replied, "But these fish play a crucial role in testing it, especially since they're my first test subjects. You guys are about to witness a test that could begin the process of changing life as we know it forever,"

This speech had captured Charlotte's full attention, but the trio of other girls seemed almost bored, as if they had heard this speech a million times before.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte inquired, "What did you create?"

Lewis smiled, and Charlotte could tell that he was excited. He walked back into his closet and emerged carrying something covered in a cloth.

"Let me introduce to you," he said, "my entry for the 21st annual Dolphin City science fair,"

And with that, he yanked off the cloth.

The contraption underneath was a medium sized gun that sparkled in the light that came through Lewis's open window, as if it had just been polished. Cleo, Charlotte, Emma, and Rikki stared at it, each girl looking confused.

"What does it do?" Emma asked.

"I'll show you," Lewis replied. He sat down at his desk with the gun in his hands. Then, he removed the top of the fish tank. Cleo squirmed uncomfortably beside Charlotte, and the blonde could tell that her new friend was getting nervous for the fish. Slowly, Lewis dipped the gun into the tank and pointed it at a scared looking fish that had backed into a corner. Lewis put one finger on the trigger and steadied his hand.

"Lewis what are you doing?!" Cleo exclaimed. She reached out a hand as if she were about to stop him, but before she could reach him, Lewis had already pulled the trigger. A small, green orb shot out of the gun, so fast that Charlotte barely saw it. It hit the goldfish and engulfed it in a gooey, green substance. The fish writhed and squirmed around as the four girls (and the other fish in the tank) watched on in horror.

"What's happening to it?" Rikki asked, and Charlotte noted that even she seemed nervous at this point.

"Just watch," Lewis replied. As he said this, all of a sudden, the fish stopped moving. The green substance seemed to sink into its skin, and, slowly, the creature floated to the bottom of the tank.

"Well," Lewis stated, "It's the moment of truth,"

The five teenagers stared at the unmoving fish in the tank. Charlotte wasn't sure of what exactly was supposed to happen, but she felt a certain sense of dread.

Suddenly, the fish twitched. Charlotte could feel Cleo tense beside her, and, without thinking, she put a hand on the girl's shoulder. The goldfish twitched a few more times, and then started vibrating. Slowly, the fish turned into a white light that shimmered in the tank for a few seconds before splitting into two orbs of white light.

"What the hell is happening?" Charlotte asked, as she watched the orbs melt into a white liquid in horror. The white liquid from each orb drifted in the water for a few more seconds, never mixing with the liquid of the other orb.

"C'mon, please work," Charlotte overheard Lewis mumble under his breath. Her cousin leaned forward a bit, and all five teenagers stared intently at the tank.

Charlotte was about to give up hope that anything would happen when, suddenly, the liquids started to morph into two solid shapes. She couldn't make out what they were until the shapes turned orange. Emma and Cleo both gasped in shock, while Charlotte heard Rikki mutter, "Holy shit,"

"Yes!" Lewis exclaimed, jumping up and pumping his fist in excitement. Charlotte, however, did not feel as enthused. She stared at the two newly formed fish in wonder. Emma was the next to speak.

"Lewis, that's absolutely incredible!" she exclaimed, and Rikki chimed in.

"That wasn't just incredible!" the redhead shouted, "That was amazing! I've never seen anything like it!"

"Shhh," Lewis replied hastily, "Keep it down, my mom might hear,"

"Sorry,"

"How did you manage this?" Cleo asked, and Charlotte noted that she sounded as shell-shocked as she herself felt. Lewis straightened up, standing tall and proud.

"Just lots of research and finding the right materials," he answered.

As the girls gushed over her cousin's invention, Charlotte sat down on the edge of his bed, feeling faint. Lewis had invented a machine that could not only liquidise a living creature, but could also split the creature and create new life from it without reproduction.

"Does it only work on goldfish?" Emma asked.

"No, it's built to work on any living creature, including humans," Lewis stated. At this, Charlotte was broken from her thoughts. She looked up at her cousin.

"Lewis, this machine could split a human being in half?" Charlotte asked. When Lewis nodded, she stood up and walked over to the desk to examine the gun. The intelligent teen stroked her fingers over the gun's metal surface.

"Lewis," she stated, "You just created two creatures from one,"

"Exactly," the teen scientist replied, "This gun offers a new way for organisms to reproduce. It could even change the future of pregnancy for women. This technology is revolutionary!"

"And it's also dangerous," Charlotte shot back, "You just split a fish into two other fish. If this gun ended up in the wrong hands, the consequences could be terrible. Species could overpopulated areas and throw off the natural balance of things. Women could be attacked and forced into having children with it,"

"We can't not create potentially dangerous things just because of the possible consequences," Lewis argued. Charlotte could feel tensions rising, and she could tell that the other girls felt it too, because all three girls took a seat on Lewis' bed.

"Please tell me that you at least have somewhere safer to put that thing," Charlotte said, "Like, a safe with a combination that no one could ever figure out,"

"Trust me, my room is a good enough hiding spot for now," Lewis replied, "And after the fair, the secret will be out. This gun is revolutionary,"

"We shouldn't just call it a gun," Rikki chimed in, "It needs a cool name,"

"I don't think that we should be worrying about naming this," Emma stated. She stared at the invention with contempt.

"Honestly, Lewis," she continued, "If this ever got out, people could be seriously hurt,"

"I'm with Charlotte and Emma," Cleo added, "The consequences of revealing this thing are too great to risk,"

"Guys, don't you understand how game-changing this thing is?" Lewis asked, and Charlotte noted the hurt in his voice.

"Lewis," Charlotte said, cautiously, "I think you've done a great job with this, but it needs to be put into the right hands. Your closet doesn't do it justice,"

"So you're all saying that I can't be trusted with it?" Lewis asked, sounding angry. Emma, Cleo, and Charlotte all looked back at him, feeling guilty but refusing to back down. When Lewis saw that he wasn't getting anywhere with them, he looked at Rikki.

"What about you?" he inquired, "What do you think?"

"I think that they're right," Rikki answered, "As cool as the gun is, it also has the potential to destroy lives,"

Lewis stared at all four girls in defeat, and Charlotte was torn by how broken he looked.

"I worked on this for months," the curly haired boy said, "I slaved over this, and did research, and perfected it until it was just right, and now you guys are saying that I should just give it away?"

"Look," Charlotte retorted, "What you've done is amazing, but you have no idea what you're dealing with,"

"Oh, and you do?" Lewis snapped, turning red. Seeing how angry Lewis was getting, Cleo reached out to him, but he pushed her hand away.

"Whatever," he mumbled, "I guess I'll just be taking this to the university so they can tell me the same thing you guys just told me. And then, they can destroy it. Will that make you all happy?"

When none of the girls responded, he shook his head in disappointment. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. No one moves until Cleo reached out a hand and laid it on Lewis's shoulder, but he flinched away, as if the contact stung. Cleo took a step back, looking pained, and Charlotte was sure that she wasn't the only one who had noticed. Her suspicions were confirmed when Rikki cleared her throat.

"Um" she said, looking unusually troubled, "Maybe we should head to dinner? It's dark outside,"

"Rikki..." Emma muttered, staring at her friend as if to say, Not the time.

"No," Lewis replied, "No, it's fine. We should probably go,"

The guilt on his face was clear, but Charlotte decided not to say anything about it. After a pause, Lewis seemed to change his mind.

"Actually," he added, "You guys should probably go without me. I'll catch up later,"

Not wanting to fight with their friend anymore, the four girls left Lewis alone in his room. They walked down the stairs and headed for the front entrance of the house. When they reached the door, Cleo, who had been about to turn the doorknob, stopped abruptly and pulled her hand back.

"I think I should go talk to him," she told the girls, "Maybe I can make him feel better."

Remembering the dispirited look on Lewis's face, Charlotte shook her head.

"I think," the blonde replied, "that he just needs some alone time,"

"No, she's right," Rikki added smugly, "If anyone can cheer him up, it's Cleo,"

Charlotte was dismayed to see Emma shake her head in agreement, although she did look distressed.

"I'll join you guys for dinner soon," Cleo insisted, looking at Charlotte with desperation in her eyes, as if she needed to make amends with her friend. The skin around her eyes was slightly red, as if she had been rubbing them furiously. Without waiting for more protests, Cleo scurried upstairs. The three girls that were left behind all looked at each other. Rikki shrugged.

"Well," she remarked, trying to make light of the situation, "More fries for us,"

"That's true," Emma answered, perking up, "Just wait til you get dinner at the Juicy Bar, Charlotte,"

"Yeah," Rikki added as she opened the front door, "They have so many dessert options too…"

With that, the three girls set off into the night. Charlotte tried to listen to Rikki as she chattered on and on about the various giant ice cream sundaes that were available to try. It was clear that the redhead was clinging to the food in her effort to maintain a conversation, but her efforts were in vain, because Charlotte only had one thing on her mind.

I wish we were still close.

Cleo reached Lewis's bedroom door, which he had closed behind them. Slowly, the shy girl took a deep breath and knocked gently, twice.

"Who is it?" came Lewis's voice from the other side of the door. Cleo was dismayed to notice the irritation in his voice.

Cleo was a shy girl; despite this, everyone who really knew her told her that she was particularly good at calming people down and cheering them up. Still, that didn't necessarily mean that she enjoyed having to do it.

"It's Cleo," she replied cautiously. She immediately felt stupid upon hearing how tentative she sounded. Cleo had known Lewis since kindergarten; she'd been there when he had cried after getting yelled at by a teacher for his science project exploding. She had been there for him when Andy Thompson had decided to push Lewis to the ground every day before first period in middle school. She'd been there with Lewis while he tearfully told her what had been happening, and she'd told him not to let Andy, or anyone else, get to him.

Cleo had watched Lewis grow from a socially awkward outcast into a slightly less awkward teenager. She had been there through it all, and she tried to remind herself of this to calm her sudden nerves.

Lately, Cleo had noticed strange feelings emerge whenever she was around Lewis. All of a sudden, she cared about the way that she looked when she was around him. If she was watching a movie, she would wonder about what his opinion of the movie would be; if she sat next to him in a booth at the Juicy Bar, she would feel oddly conscious of the distance between them.

Cleo knew what these feelings were. She'd been experiencing them since high school started, and she had tried hard to suppress them for fear of ruining their friend group. But, it seemed like the more Cleo tried to push her feelings back, the harder they tried to escape.

Cleo was thinking about all of this when Lewis interrupted her thoughts.

"Come in." came his tired reply, and Cleo pushed open his bedroom door to step inside.

Lewis was seated at his desk, hunched over, holding his head in his hands. He made no move to look at Cleo until she had taken a seat across the room, on his bed. Then, he straightened up and turned in his swivel chair to face her. There was a beat of silence as Cleo searched for something to say. When the words finally came to her, she opened her mouth to speak, but Lewis beat her to it.

"I'm sorry." he apologized, and Cleo noticed that he had started looking at the ground, wearing an expression of shame.

"I was unfairly angry about that whole thing," the messy-haired boy continued, "I just worked so hard on my project, and I felt like you guys were just shooting it down."

"No, it's fine," Cleo replied, "Your project is really awesome Lewis. Honestly, it really, really is."

Lewis glanced up at her, and they locked eyes for a split second before Cleo looked away, hoping that she wasn't turning red.

"It's just that we're worried about what might happen if that project got into the wrong hands," she quickly continued, trying to distract from the previous moment. At this, Lewis let out an exasperated sigh.

"I know, I know. The more I think about it, the more I wonder why I made this thing in the first place."

It was it this moment that Cleo noticed the gun, laying on it's side on the desk, gleaming under the light of the lamp that was standing next to it. Cleo stood up from the bed and crossed the room to the desk.

"Can I look at it again?" she inquired, and Lewis nodded. He picked up his invention carefully and handed it to her. Cleo took it from him gingerly and turned it over in her hands, studying it carefully. It was smooth and cold, and surprisingly light considering its size.

Thinking back on Lewis's earlier demonstration of the weapon, Cleo felt a small tremor run through her body. Here was a piece of technology that could create new life with the push of a trigger, and it was here, in the bedroom of a teenager with wide eyes and crooked glasses. And in the moment, Cleo felt truly in awe of her best friend.

"You shouldn't regret making this," she stated, much to the surprise of her companion.

"Why not?" Lewis shot back, annoyance creeping back into his voice.

"You said it yourself. The consequences of unveiling this to the public are too great to ever risk a chance to be proud of this thing."

"A lack of recognition is no reason to not be proud of what you've accomplished. Think about it! All the great artists and scientists that changed the world went through a period of time where no one accepted their insane ideas and inventions." the shy girl answered. Lewis snorted.

"Okay," he responded, "First of all, the greatest scientists all at least got the chance to unveil their creations. Second of all, this is all rich coming from you, considering that technically, if you're comparing me to a great scientist, then that would make you one of the people rejecting me."

Despite the bitterness in his tone, Cleo was relieved to see that Lewis was wearing a small smile. She couldn't help but notice how adorable he could be, with his green eyes lit up and his hair messy.

Get a grip on yourself.

"Well," she said aloud, "I'm sorry that we made you upset, Lewis. I really am."

"It's fine," he answered, "You guys were just looking out for me. And, honestly, you're right."

Cleo felt a wave of relief wash over her, but she couldn't help but notice the way that Lewis's eyes clouded over after he spoke. Before she could console him, he stood up and took his invention from her hands. Shyly, she looked up at him standing in front of her and took in how much he had changed. He was no longer the scrawny boy that constantly fell victim to bullying, and she could see this clearly. Lewis was now taller, with a stronger build. Cleo realized, with a start, that finally, after years of awkwardness, he was growing into himself.

Lewis looked back down at her, and they locked eyes. The shorter girl could feel her heart begin to pound wildly inside of her chest, and she, once again hoped that her face wasn't turning red. (It seemed that she was hoping for her face to remain its normal color around him more and more lately.) There was a moment of silence that lasted for two seconds, but to Cleo it felt like two years. It was almost like a spell had been cast over them, she thought; like they had entered their own world, a place full of uncharted territory that Cleo was afraid to explore. She wondered if he was afraid, too.

She discovered the answer to her question after the moment passed. Lewis turned his gaze from her to the closet, the gun gripped in his hands. As he turned, she swear she saw his face turning red. Upon seeing this, she felt the heat rising in her own cheeks.

Well, at least I tried to not turn red.

"I really hope that we didn't make this awkward." she thought as she watched her best friend put his project in the closet.

However, when Lewis returned, he looked perfectly normal, as if whatever moment that had just passed between them had never even happened. Cleo wouldn't tell if she was relieved or disappointed by this.

Just be happy that he isn't upset anymore.

"We should probably head to the Juicy Bar. It's getting late, the girls are probably wondering where we are." Lewis remarked, glancing down at the brown leather watch on his wrist. Cleo pulled out her phone and checked the time.

"Yeah, you're right." she agreed. Without another word, the two teenagers left Lewis's room. Lewis was about to shut his door when Cleo realized something.

"Lewis," she exclaimed, "You didn't lock the closet door!"

"Shit, and I also didn't put the tank back in the closet," he replied, running into his room. Cleo sighed and leaned against the doorway, watching as he dashed to the fishtank on his desk. Just as he was about to pick it up, Cleo interrupted him.

"Can't you at least leave those poor fish on your desk?" she begged, "Please? If your parents notice, you can just tell them it was a gift from me."

She walked into the room and stood a few inches from him, widening her eyes the way that she had always done when she wanted him to do something for her. The shy girl had lost count of the amount of times that Lewis had helped her out of a sticky situation, and for that, she was extremely grateful.

Cleo expected Lewis to groan and complain before giving in, but, instead, his reaction surprised her. Instead of avoiding her eyes, he looked right into them, and she saw his own green ones soften. There was something different about the way that he looked at her lately, as if he was tired and defeated, but still with so much love and care.

It was new and unfamiliar.

It was terrifying.

Worst of all, it made her heart leap into her throat every time it happened.

"Yeah," Lewis replied, "Sure Cleo, I'll leave the fish out."

After Lewis had put the gun back into its hiding spot, the two teens went downstairs, said a quick goodbye to Lewis's mother, and headed outside. Neither of them spoke until they reached the end of his street, and Cleo wasn't sure if it was because they didn't know what to say, or because they didn't want to disturb the peaceful night. All she knew was that she hated the awkward sense she was getting around him.

Before turning off the street, Cleo joked, "You should be thankful that you have me to keep you from becoming a crazy scientist-slash-fish abuser."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Cleo regretted them. Thankfully, Lewis snorted, taking them as a joke.

"And you," he teased, "Should be thankful that you have me at your beck and call, my lady."

At this, Cleo laughed, and, just like that, the awkwardness has passed, and they were just two best friends again, walking through the city that they had roamed together for what seemed like forever.


	6. Chapter 5

_"I'm going to throw up."_

Isabella leaned over the counter, taking in the scene around her. It seemed to her that the Juicy Bar was more crowded than she had ever seen it. Evie hadn't been kidding when she'd said that Saturday night was the best time to perform.

"More people equals more publicity," she'd explained, as if Isabella didn't already understand that. The blonde had tried to protest, arguing that her first public appearance should be in front of a smaller crowd.

"Less people equals less pressure," she'd reasoned, "And less pressure equals a better debut."

But the singer knew that her efforts to change her friend's mind were in vain. Evie was not one to choose reason and caution over risk and reward. Of course, Isabella also knew that she could have just refused to take Evie's suggestion; it wasn't like Evie was actually a real manager. However, in her heart, Isabella was aware that she could make all the excuses that she wanted to not take the chance, but, in the end, she was only stopping herself from reaching her full potential out of fear. Evie knew this too, and saw right through her excuses. So, it only took a few minutes of arguing to convince the talented teenager to sign up to be the Juicy Bar's performer for their first ever offering of live music.

Now, she was here, guitar in hand, about to sit on a stool and sing into a microphone in front of at least forty people. All of a sudden, the thought of throwing up and spending her night in the bathroom sounded more appealing to Isabella than the thought of putting herself out there for everyone to judge.

"Five minutes til you go on!" an excited voice behind her exclaimed. Isabella turned her attention from the customers outside to Evie, who was emerging from the door of the kitchen with a bottle of water in hand. An irritable looking girl with a Juicy Bar uniform and bright pink hair followed closely behind.

"Um, I'm pretty sure that when you just wander into the kitchen of a restaurant and steal beverages, it's considered theft." the girl angrily stated. Her voice was somewhat high-pitched and squeaky. Thinking that she looked familiar, Isabella squinted to examine her orange nametag. It read "Hello, my name is _", and the name written in the blank was "Miriam", scrawled in cursive that was so perfect, it was almost annoying. Upon realizing who the girl was, Isabella had to suppress a disgusted shudder. She had never talked to Miriam, but she knew that the girl scolding them came from one of the most wealthy families in the city, and she wasn't afraid to show it.

"Relax rich girl, I have permission to come back here and supply the performer with all the food and water she needs this evening. See, I even have a pass, signed by your manager." Evie handed a small, crumpled piece of paper over to Miriam, who snatched it out of the shorter girl's hands and examined it closely.

"Whatever," the pink haired girl mumbled, "Come back here as often as you want and take what you need. I have better things to be doing anyway, I don't need to waste my time chasing you two idiots." Isabella thought that Miriam almost looked disappointed that she had not been able to get them in trouble.

While the Juicy Bar's guest performer felt uncomfortable, Evie just looked amused. Isabella couldn't help but admire her friend for the way that criticisms seemed to bounce off of her, like there was some sort of invisible barrier surrounding her. But, as much as she admired her friend, Isabella also knew that, when it came to dealing with rude people, Evie wasn't opposed to a little verbal conflict. In fact, she had the sneaking suspicion that her audacious best friend even enjoyed it. With this knowledge in mind, she took Evie by the arm with her free hand and steered her out from behind the counter before she could say anything to upset Miriam.

"Ugh, you know me too well," Evie complained as she let Isabella push her into an empty booth. With an exasperated sigh, Isabella took the seat across from her friend, carefully setting her perfectly polished guitar down next to her.

"You should be thanking me," she replied, twirling a piece of her hair around one finger, "I just saved us from becoming Miriam's next victims. Don't you remember how she totally went off at that girl in the cafeteria the other day?"

Evie just shook her head and sighed.

"That girl is insane. You should've let me have a little fun with her. You know, I could have thrown a sticky-"

"Evie!" Isabella exclaimed, reaching across to cover her friend's mouth. Evie rolled her eyes and removed the hand.

"What?" she asked, "It's not like anyone knows what we're talking about. Or cares. Or can, you know, hear us because we're like, ten feet away from a majority of the people in this place."

Isabella glanced around them nervously, and she felt foolish once she realized that her friend was right. She had unknowingly chosen a booth in the farthest corner of the restaurant.

"Okay, but we still need to be careful," she argued, "Imagine what would happen if people overheard us and DID care!"

"Somehow, I highly doubt that would happen," Evie replied, and then she joked, "If someone even cared enough to listen, they would end up thinking that we're insane, and then they would send us to a mental institution, which would be a real shame because you would never make it big and I would never become rich off of your profits."

When this only elicited a glare, Evie decided to correct herself.

"Okay, fine. YOU would never make it big or rich off of your profits, and I would never gain enough credibility to convince Taylor Swift to work with me."

More silence, and somehow, Isabella's glare turned colder.

As much as she loved Evie like a sister, Isabella often found herself worrying about Evie's carefree nature. They had been harboring the biggest secret that had ever existed in the history of secrets for about two months now, and Evie was still acting like it was a joke, as if it didn't have the potential to ruin both of their lives.

Sensing her friend's irritation and not wanting to add to her stress, Evie decided to apologize.

"I'm sorry. I know this whole, um...water thing is stressful to you."

"No, it's okay," Isabella replied, and she could hear the heaviness in her voice. The weight of the secret had been crushing her ever since the night that their lives changed. She kept wondering how long she could hide it, and she worried that Evie was having an even harder time hiding it. Evie was a carefree open book; she didn't get genuinely upset very often, but when she did, it was written all over her face.

Isabella still remembered the look of fear on Evie's face when it had first happened. The water splashing around them, the glow of the moon shining down on them, and the sudden feeling of her legs being bound together. The one glance she took at Evie's face, where she saw everything that she needed to know to tell her that her best friend was feeling it too. The swirling vortex that overcame her, making her wonder if she was in a dream, and, then, the vortex disappearing. She could recall the panic that set in, and how she attempted to splash back to shore, but her legs weren't working, almost like they weren't there. She could still see Evie in the pool in front of her, looking down, frozen in shock. She remembered looking down.

Where her two legs had been, there had been a shiny, turquoise tail.

——————————

"So, I heard that you want to be an astronaut?" Rikki asked, leaning towards Charlotte, who was sitting across from her, in anticipation. She thought it was interesting that this girl, who seemed very similar to her cousin in a number of ways, also seemed to have a confidence that Lewis lacked. Her geeky friend was more comfortable sitting at a desk and testing samples than he was out interacting with the world that he actively studied. Charlotte was different; her passion for space was leading her to do everything in her power to fly into the solar system one day, which Rikki couldn't help but admire her for. As soon as the question left her mouth, Charlotte's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, I want to explore space when I'm older. I already even have a list of colleges where I can major in either science or mathematics, and every school on the list has a considerable amount of astronaut alumni," she replied enthusiastically.

"Wow, that's impressive. You already have everything figured out, and we aren't even sophomores yet!" Emma exclaimed, looking at Charlotte with admiration. Rikki thought that she could detect a bit of jealousy in her friend's voice; Emma had been dreaming of becoming a professional swimmer before the "mermaid incident", and she had certainly been good enough to accomplish the dream if not for her mermaid status. Rikki was fairly sure that a professional swimmer turning into a human-fish hybrid as soon as she hit the water would probably cause a bit of trouble for her friend.

"I mean, I know what I want, it's just a matter of accomplishing it." Charlotte responded rather quickly. Rikki wondered if she had detected the jealousy in Emma's voice, too.

"It can be really stressful," Charlotte continued, "thinking about all of the things that I have to do in order to get myself up there."

After that, there was silence. Charlotte turned her gaze upwards, and, somehow, Rikki knew that she was thinking of galaxies and planets and comets, and of all the stars burning brightly in the night. She wondered if the night sky gave her new friend the same sense of calm that overtook her and her friends when they dove into the water at Mako Island.

"Hey guys!" the voice of Cleo exclaimed. The girls, startled from their daydreams, looked up to see Cleo and Lewis approaching the table. Lewis waved and gave them a sheepish grin, as if to say that he was no longer angry with them.

"What did Cleo say to put him in a good mood again?" Rikki thought, and then, "Actually, she probably didn't have to say much." It was obvious to everyone but Cleo and Lewis that they had feelings for each other; Rikki suspected that even Charlotte knew. Cleo's face lit up whenever Lewis entered a room, and Lewis was always going out of his way to help her with whatever she needed.

When they reached the booth, Lewis and Cleo slid into the seat across from Emma and Rikki, where Charlotte had been sitting alone. Before any of the girls could utter a word, Lewis spoke.

"I'm sorry that I fought with you guys earlier," he apologized, turning red. "It's just that I was so excited about what I had accomplished that I wasn't thinking of the repercussions. You guys are right, of course. I'm gonna take it to Dolphin University first thing tomorrow morning."

"Oh Lewis, we're really proud of you," Emma replied, moving her hand to cover his on the table, "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," Rikki added, deciding to chime in, "We weren't trying to make you feel bad about it or anything, we just wanted you to stay safe."

"I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to contribute to a fight as soon as I got here." Charlotte said, looking down at the table with guilt. Lewis wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"It's okay guys, I promise."

With that, Lewis unwrapped his arms from around his cousin, and the tension was relieved. The group conversed about summer plans, and about Charlotte's old life, and then about how long the waitress was taking.

"I'm gonna flag her down, we've been here for almost twenty minutes and on a normal busy night, it takes them about ten to take our order," Emma stated. Charlotte looked confused.

"Wait," she exclaimed, "so this place has waiters and waitresses too? I thought we were just waiting for the others to go up and get our order,"

"Did you not notice the waitresses and waiters swarming around the tables this afternoon?" Emma replied, to which Charlotte just rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to retort when she was interrupted by an ear piercing noise that split the air. Rikki, silently wondering how her glass of water wasn't shattered, turned her attention to the front of the restaurant, where her friends and basically every customer in the Juicy Bar was looking.

In front of the bar counter stood a skinny, awkward looking girl that looked to be about their age. She had tan skin and long, wavy black hair that spilled over her shoulders. She looked nervous as she fidgeted with a microphone, trying to position its stand so that it could reach her mouth. When she was finally able to fit the mic into place, she exclaimed, "YES!"

Her excitement quickly faded when she looked up and realized that everyone in the bar was looking at her, and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"Oh for God's sake," someone from a few tables away whispered loudly. Rikki leaned over to see where it had come from, noticed a girl sitting at a corner booth a few tables away, and was able to puzzle out that the girl was the one who had spoken based off of the exasperated but amused expression on her face.

The girl at the mic didn't seem to notice the comment, and she began to speak stiffly, as if she had rehearsed what she was going to say.

"Um, hi, my name is Isabella. I'm sixteen, and I moved to Dolphin City a couple years ago. I'm here to kick off a new concert series at the Juicy Bar, and, uh...I hope you like it."

The restaurant was silent except for the sound of Isabella clipping her guitar strap into place. She placed it over her neck and then looked up at her audience. Her eyes widened as she took in the impatient, hungry customers, and Rikki felt a wave of sympathy for her. If there was ever a bad time to perform, it was now; Friday night was always filled with impatient adults who had just gotten out of work and were eager to start the weekend with a few drinks. However, the performer took a deep breath, and then started to play her guitar. It was a soft, gentle melody, and a few measures in, she began to sing. Her voice, quiet and unsure, carried over the room of people like a warm spring breeze, and it seemed to leave the bar in a trance.

"Her voice is beautiful," Cleo breathed, and, without taking their eyes off of Isabella, everyone at the table nodded in agreement. With every line, her voice became a bit stronger, a bit more powerful, and the nerves disappeared from her eyes, leaving behind a fiery passion that seemed to spark with every note. When she reached the chorus, her voice rang out, and Rikki had a feeling that she wouldn't need the microphone.

"We can fight the dark

This is who we are

There's a new light coming

Finally had enough

Finally waking up

To who we are becoming

Open your eyes…"

Rikki closed her eyes for a moment and let the words wash over her. Something about the lyrics, and the song itself, sparked an empowering feeling, and she let herself take it in as the song continued. When the last word was sung and the last note of the guitar faded from existence, there was silence throughout the Juicy Bar. It was as if a spell had been cast over the customers, but if it was a spell, it wasn't a strong one, because after about five seconds the bar exploded into applause and cheers. Isabella turned a brighter red than before as she set down her guitar, though this time because of a more positive reason. She smiled and waved at her awestruck fans. Rikki watched as the girl who had muttered before ran up to the mic. She wrapped one arm around the singer in a hug, and then used her free hand to pick up the mic and turn it on.

"Hi, I'm Evie Mclaren," she announced, "And I would just like to introduce myself as this girl's manager. We're clearly pretty awesome, as you can see."

Rikki snorted. This Evie girl also looked to be about the same age as herself, and they seemed to have a similar sense of humor. Before Evie could speak any further, the Juicy Bar's manager came from behind the counter and lightly pushed the two girls out of the spotlight, calling, "Food will now be served, and the bar is open!"

"Finally, it's time to eat!" Emma exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She began to leave the table, and Rikki snorted once again.

"Are you forgetting that they're serving us our food?" she inquired, and Charlotte chimed in.

"Yeah, you know, the food that we're gonna order from a waiter/waitress of which you lectured me on the existence of, like, five minutes ago?"

Everyone at the table laughed as Emma returned to her seat, muttering something under her breath, but there was a smile on her face, showing that she hadn't taken anything to offense.

It wasn't until about twenty minutes later that, after ordering, the five friends were brought their food. However, to Rikki, the time seemed to pass by rather quickly as they laughed and joked and told stories. She was almost sad when they had finished their food; the night was almost over, and soon she would be back in her house, with Cathy and her father.

"Don't think about that now," she thought, "Just focus on being with your friends."

So, she did.


	7. Chapter 6

For the first time in her entire life, Isabella felt completely, utterly fearless. She was untouchable; no one and nothing could hurt her. She was invincible, soaring over all the pain of the past. She was everything that anyone had ever told her she couldn't be.

At least, that's how she had felt when she was performing. The minute she ended the song, the realization that everyone in the entire bar was staring at her hit like a brick wall, and a cold wave of dread washed over her. There was a beat of silence that seemed to last for a lifetime, and then the crowd burst into cheers. Some even called for an encore. Most important of all, in the back of the room, there was Evie, beaming at her with pride.

The moments after that seemed like a blur, but she recalled being interrupted by Evie, Evie being interrupted by the bartender, and then going back to take her seat in the corner booth from before. Almost as soon as Evie sat down, she began to speak so quickly that Isabella could barely understand what she was saying.

"And that was incredible everyone loved you you got SO into it it was amazing how could you have ever been afraid to do what you just did wow-"

Isabella had never told Evie why exactly she was afraid to sing. She had never told her that ghosts from her old life lurked in the darkest corners of her mind, whispering discouraging words and insults, calling her a disgrace to her last name and telling her that to choose music over family was to choose loneliness and despair. She had kept from her best friend a piece of her history, a piece that she had never told anyone, because telling someone, anyone, would unravel the perfectly wrapped package that she had hidden herself in for years, and as she thought about it all, the adrenaline slowly faded away, leaving behind the same fear from before. All of a sudden, she felt trapped, as if she had chosen the wrong path, but it was too late to turn back now, it was just too late-

"I need a drink of water." she blurted out. Evie, who had been talking nonstop for the past five minutes, cut off the stream of words coming from her mouth abruptly.

"Isabella," she said, and the singer could feel her friend analyzing her expression, "What's wrong?"

"I just need a drink of water," she explained, turning her face away from Evie's, "and I ran out of water in my bottle. I'll be right back."

Before the brunette could protest, Isabella was up and gone, headed straight toward the smoothie bar.

————————

Evie had never considered herself a particularly analytical person, but she could read Isabella like a book.

She hated when her best friend got that way, hated it when it seemed like everything was fine and then, all of a sudden, it wasn't. Isabella would be in the middle of singing a song, or talking, or even laughing, and then she would freeze up. Her face would harden to stone and become devoid of expression, as if she had practiced it a million times. Her eyes were still revealing though, and what Evie saw scared her. She saw fear in those eyes, a sad fear, filled with remorse and regret and guilt. Of course, every single time this happened, Evie would reach out to her, and try to help, but Isabella would run before she could. Sometimes she would hide in the bathroom, sometimes she would just go home, but every time, she found a way to run and a place to hide.

Isabella was more than just a best friend to Evie; she was like a sister, a sibling that she could confide in and share experiences with. Someone to depend on through everything. But in those moments when she turned distant, it was like Evie was all alone again, and it frustrated her beyond belief. She would try to remind herself that she wasn't ever alone, not really, not even if Isabella was gone. But it was hard to pretend to have a family when the family she had felt so far away. Her mother was always at work, and it was hard to have the connection that she yearned to have with her younger brother. They loved her very much, and she loved them back, that was for sure; Evie knew that she would do anything for her family. But she also knew that her relationship with them would always be tarnished by the guilt she felt for wanting a more conventional family.

It was in times like this, when Isabella fled the scene, that Evie allowed herself to really think about those things. It was rare that she became lost in thought, because Evie wasn't a particularly thoughtful person, but when something that had happened bothered her, she dwelled on it until either she thought of a solution or the problem passed. This problem, however, was different, a challenge from within that she didn't know how to face. So, like all of the other times that the same thing happened, Evie pushed her thoughts aside and looked for a distraction. She had used to try and follow her best friend to wherever she had fled, but the fleeing seemed to become more constant with every step that Isabella made toward her dream of being a singer, to the point where Evie had decided that, when her friend turned numb, it was best to just leave her alone.

"Can something just happen?" she thought, pleading with some otherworldly force, "Can something fun or cool just happen right now to make this night better? Because I kinda feel like this night is about to totally suck and I just-"

As if by fate, a girl with long black hair walked by, tripped over absolutely nothing, and face planted right in front of her.

"I would like to clarify," Evie thought as she stood up to help the girl, "When I said cool and exciting, I didn't mean someone breaking their face in front of me."

She held out her hand to the girl, who was already beginning to sit up. She looked in a daze, but thankfully her facial features were still intact. When she noticed Evie's hand stretched out to her, she took it, and the other girl pulled her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Evie asked, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright. A little embarrassed, but it's all good." the girl replied quietly, and her face was as red as a tomato.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that only the fifteen people at surrounding tables noticed what just happened," Evie joked, and the other girl laughed.

"I'm Cleo," the girl introduced herself with a smile. Cleo held out her hand for Evie to shake it.

"Are you holding that out because you plan on falling again and you want to make sure I help you out for the second time?"

Cleo laughed again, but then her eyes widened.

"Wait a minute," she said, "Aren't you the person who was just up at the mic with that girl? The one who sang?"

"Oh, Isabella?" Evie asked, and at the mention of her best friend, she found herself glancing over to the smoothie bar, where Isabella had taken a seat and was sipping on a foamy pink beverage, alone. Then, she snapped out of it and answered the question.

"Um yeah, that was me. What did you think of the show?"

The smile on Cleo's face seemed to grow even bigger with enthusiasm.

"It was awesome! Your friend is really talented. Me and all of my friends thought so,"

"Oh, where are you and your friends sitting?" Evie asked. If Isabella was going to ditch her, then there was no reason to not find someone to hang out with.

Cleo pointed to a booth about two tables away, where three other girls and one guy were sitting.

"Over there. You and Isabella should come sit with us, I'm sure all my friends would love to meet you guys!"

"Okay, just let me get Isabella and we'll be over there in a second!" Evie replied, and then she set off for the smoothie bar.

——————-

"Cleo, what are you doing?" Rikki asked, observing as her friend pulled two chairs from a nearby empty table over to theirs.

Before her friend could answer, two girls approached. One of them was the singer from earlier, her guitar in hand. The other was her brown haired friend, her "manager".

"Guys, I want you to meet Isabella and Evie," Cleo said, "Isabella is the singer from tonight, and her friend Evie just helped me after I tripped!"

"You say that as if we could forget!" Emma exclaimed, "You were incredible, Isabella!"

The tan girl blushed and then looked down at the ground, almost as if she was ashamed of herself in some way. Rikki decided to try and make her more comfortable.

"Yeah, thanks for blessing us with your voice, because up until that point my ears were still bleeding from Miriam screaming at a new waitress."

Everyone laughed, including the two newcomers. Cleo slid back into the booth beside Lewis and motioned towards the two empty chairs at the end of the table.

"You guys are welcome to sit, if you want," she invited , and both girls took a seat. Cleo looked pleased.

"Hey, you never introduced us!" Rikki exclaimed, "Isabella is going to be famous one day, and I want to be remembered as one of her first fans."

"Yeah, sorry, that spot has already been claimed by me," Evie retorted, "Although if you want, you could settle for, like, her second or third fan." For the first time, Isabella spoke up.

"Hey, she said 'fans', not fan. There's room for more," A smile lit up the singer's face.

"Thank you guys for all the support. This was my first time performing live, and I was really freaked out, so the compliments mean a lot, they really do."

"That was your FIRST TIME doing that?!?" Lewis inquired.

"Yeah, you're crazy good for someone who has never sung in front of people before!" Charlotte chimed in.

"Thanks so much!" Isabella replied, "And yeah, I've never really had the guts to do it. I would never have done it without Evie, honestly."

Evie smiled and threw an arm around Isabella's shoulder.

"I claim full credit for her success,"

Isabella rolled her eyes and said, "See, this is why I don't trust you completely as a manager,"

"She also doesn't trust me around speedboats,"

At this, everyone laughed once again, but Rikki caught Isabella giving Evie a warning glance.

"But enough about me," Isabella continued, "What about you guys?"

"Oh right, sorry!" Cleo apologized, "These are my friends Lewis, Charlotte, Rikki, and Emma!"

She gestured to each person as she said their name, and each person gave the two girls either a small smile or a wave.

"You guys seem a bit familiar." Emma remarked. "Do you go to Dolphin City High School?"

She was referring to the school that herself, Rikki, Cleo, and Lewis had been attending since last year. Surviving freshman year had been difficult, but it was made even more difficult by the fact that the school was huge and contained multitudes of students, not just from Dolphin City but from other small neighboring communities that lacked a decent public school of their own. Between the size of the building, the throngs of students, and the newly found secret that they were obligated to keep, freshman year had hit Rikki and her friends hard.

Rikki felt a twinge of sympathy for Charlotte, remembering that Lewis had told them about her old school. Charlotte was transferring from a small private school to a giant public school, a switch that was likely to cause her a great amount of stress.

"We do." Evie replied, answering for both herself and her friend. "I've lived in this town my whole life."

"I just moved to this city a couple years ago," Isabella added, "It took a while to adjust to everything, but it feels like home now. What about you all, have you guys always lived here?"

Everyone nodded yes except for Charlotte. "I'm here on a visit for the summer, but I'm going back home for a week or two before school starts." She then proceeded to explain her father's job offer, and how she was planning on returning home to say her goodbyes and then moving back into the city with her parents before sophomore year began.

"It might be intimidating at first, but you'll get used to this place pretty quickly, especially because you're already spending time here now." Isabella reassured her.

"Oh, she isn't really afraid to leave." Rikki jumped in, and Charlotte nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it honestly. It'll be a nice change."

"And even if you do get scared or nervous, you have us to look out for you, right guys?" Lewis asked, looking towards his three best friends. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo all agreed enthusiastically.

"You have us, too." Isabella stated. "We should all hang out more this summer!"

"Yeah, you guys are pretty cool!" Evie exclaimed, a smile spreading over her face.

"Oh my god," Rikki said, feigning shock. "The future pop star and her manager just called us cool. I might pass out."

"Rikki uses sarcasm a lot because she thinks it's funny," Emma explained, and, at the same exact time, Evie and Rikki both replied with an indignant, "It IS funny."

Everyone at the table laughed as the waitress came by to drop off the check. Isabella looked almost disappointed at the sight of it.

"Aw, you guys are leaving already?" she asked.

"Yeah, the night's just begun!" Evie exclaimed. Isabella nodded in excitement, and then she gasped, her eyes lighting up as she thought of something.

"Why don't you guys all sleep over at my house tonight?!?"

At the idea of an escape from facing Cathy (and her father), Rikki was filled with excitement.

"I'm down for sure!" she replied enthusiastically, "I'll just have to run home and grab my stuff."

"But wait, are you sure your parents would be ok with us staying over?" Emma inquired, acting as the voice of reason in the way that she always did. At her question, the smile on Isabella's face disappeared.

"Um, actually, I don't live with my parents." she answered, "I live with my aunt and my older sister."

There was a beat of awkward silence at the table, and Emma, clearly embarrassed for accidentally bringing up a subject that made their new friend uncomfortable, tried to fill it with another question.

"Well, would they be okay with us all coming to your house?" Isabella seemed to brighten up a bit.

"Yeah, definitely!" she replied, "My aunt loves company, and visitors give her an excuse to bake."

"I'm down for your aunt's cookies, so I'll be there for sure," Evie remarked.

"Let me just call my mom and ask if it's okay." Emma said, and then she left the table with her cellphone in hand.

"Lewis, would you be okay if I slept over tonight?" Charlotte asked hesitantly. "I know that I just got here and all, but…"

"Oh!" Isabella exclaimed, as if she had just remembered that Lewis was there. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal all your friends from you tonight!"

"Nah, it's fine," Lewis replied, waving his hand dismissively. Cleo put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you sure?" the dark haired girl inquired, concern edging her voice. "I don't want you to feel too left out, it's the first night of vacation!"

"I promise it's ok," the scientist answered with a slightly unconvincing smile. "I have stuff to work on tonight anyway, and I wouldn't want to crash a girls' night."

Rikki couldn't hold back a smirk at the way that Lewis put his hand over Cleo's on his shoulder to reassure her.

"Well then, I'll be there!" Cleo exclaimed.

"So will I." Charlotte added, a bright smile plastered across her face.

"Count me in!" Emma said as she returned to the group of six girls and one boy. Then, as the waiter came to take the check, Isabella shared her address with her new friends, and the girls exchanged numbers. Both Evie and Isabella added Lewis to their phone, as well, though Rikki suspected that it was out of guilt for excluding him.

"My aunt would kill me if I tried to have a boy stay the night," she explained, while typing his number into her phone. Lewis smiled halfheartedly.

"It's okay, my mom would kill me if I even asked to stay the night at your house," he responded.

Before Rikki could even seize her chance, Emma muttered, just quietly enough that Rikki and Charlotte could hear, "That's because your mom would kill you for not loving Cleo as much as she does." The three girls burst into giggles, earning them confused looks from everyone else at the table.

When contacts had been exchanged, the group parted ways, and Rikki left the restaurant feeling full and happy. However, as she neared her house, she could feel her happiness slowly ebbing away. When she reached her front doorstep, she noticed that the porch light was on, a sure sign that Cathy and her father were home from the grocery store. She cursed under her breath; how was she supposed to sneak out now?

With a lurch of guilt, Rikki realized what she'd just thought. She wanted to sneak out of the house for the night and scare her father to death, and for what? To avoid a confrontation? No, she wasn't about to punish her father for Cathy's words.

"I'll just grab my stuff and tell him I'm sleeping over at Emma's," she thought. "He trusts Emma and Cleo, but he'll question Isabella. He doesn't know her."

Resolving to lie, Rikki took a deep breath and carefully unlocked her front door, her heart heavy. She still felt guilty for lying to her father, but at least it wasn't a complete lie; after all, she WAS going to a sleepover, and she WOULD be with Emma and Cleo.

Once she had gotten inside, Rikki closed the door quietly behind her, figuring that she could sneak upstairs and pack. If she was already prepared, maybe her father would be even more likely to let her go without trying to talk to her. She tiptoed past the bookshelf near the entryway, letting her eyes wander over the various books and collectibles. Her father had built the shelf and placed his wife's most important possessions there, as a way to honor her. As she reached the end of the shelf, where the stairs to the family's bedrooms began, Rikki realized that something was off about the bookshelf. Something wasn't there, but she just couldn't put her finger on what it was...

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen, and a murmur of voices. As the footsteps became louder, Rikki realized that they were headed straight towards the entryway. Cursing under her breath, she abandoned her thoughts of the missing bookshelf item and scrambled upstairs as quietly as she could. Once she reached the top, she tiptoed all the way to the end of the hallway, where her bedroom was. She reached her door, creaked it open and ducked inside, shutting the door behind her. With the extra protection of the door to mute any sounds she made, she began to dig through her messy room for what she needed.

Rikki had never been one to stay on top of her responsibilities, and this included cleaning her room. She had memories of her mother scolding her when she was a small child, trying to convince her to declutter her space.

"We don't have much room in this house as it is." she would mutter under her breath, and Rikki got the impression that her mother hadn't meant for her to hear that. Mrs. Chadwick had always dreamed of buying a bigger, nicer house, and she had even been saving up for it. She had found an old mason jar and painted the words "Dream Jar" on it with bright red paint (as per Rikki's suggestion, because red was her favorite color.) She called it that because the money she placed inside the jar represented the steps she was taking towards her dream, not only for herself, but for her family.

"She always wanted a better life for us." Rikki thought bitterly, tossing aside dirty clothes. "Now we have one, and she isn't here to see it." The first time Rikki had ever laid eyes on the new house, she knew that her mother would have loved it. Rikki loved the house too, but without her, sometimes it was just a reminder of what could have been.

With a shake of her head, Rikki pushed aside her dismal thoughts and continued to throw possessions into the duffel bag she used for sleepovers. Finally, she threw her wallet into the bag and zipped it up. Throwing the bag over her shoulder, she flicked off the light and exited her room.

As the red haired girl made her way downstairs, she heard two voices yelling. Her father and Cathy were having a fight. Rikki stopped on the stairs, frozen. She had never heard her father raise his voice towards his new girlfriend, and Cathy had never raised her voice towards him. What could they possibly be fighting about?

Moving with caution, Rikki proceeded down the stairs, trying, once again, not to make too much noise. She wanted to find out why her father was upset before she interrupted the fight. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stepped into the entryway and flattened her back against the wall next to the bookcase. The shouting was coming from the living room. As she strained her ears to listen, Rikki's focus was suddenly ripped from the conflict in the next room. She realized what had seemed off about the bookcase.

The dream jar was gone.

All of a sudden, Rikki didn't care about the fighting, or the sleepover, or about anything except the missing memory. She began to search, pushing aside bags of sea glass and framed pictures, trying to see if the jar had been moved. When she determined that it was no longer on the shelf, she looked behind the shelf, trying to see if it had fallen off. Thankfully, there were no glass shards anywhere, so it seemed as if the jar, wherever it was, was still intact.

It was then that the voices in the living room grew silent, and all of a sudden footsteps were growing in volume, approaching the entryway. Before she could react, Cathy and her father had blasted onto the scene, and, in Cathy's small hand, she clenched the dream jar.

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Cathy shouted, "Listen, I have been so good about what happened with her. I've been respectful, patient, kind- I've been trying to bond with that daughter of yours for weeks but she just doesn't want anything to do with me. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around the two of you!".

Mr. Chadwick's eyes filled with tears, but he choked them back. Neither adult seemed to notice that Rikki was there.

"Have you ever lost the love of your life?!?" Mr. Chadwick shouted back, and Rikki felt a sharp pang of fear at the tone and volume of her father's voice, louder and angrier than she had ever heard it.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to move on? To continue on with my job and my life as if it hadn't happened? To be strong for Rikki?"

Rikki had been contemplating bolting out the door and heading to Mako to spend the night; hearing her father sound so heartbroken made her own heart shatter. But the curious part of her wanted to know what they were fighting about, so she stayed put. Cathy's eyes welled up, and she took a step towards her husband.

"I know that you loved her," she said, her voice dropping to barely a whisper as she set her hand on his shoulder.

"But you and Rikki have me now. We love each other. You and Rikki love each other. I want nothing more than to be a part of your daughter's life,"

"And you expect to do that by selling that bookshelf and stuffing everything on it in a box?" Rikki's father answered. Rikki gasped, but still, neither adult noticed the teen girl, pressed up against the wall.

"I had no idea of the meaning behind it. To be fair, you never told me."

"I never told you for a reason, and the reason is that the shelf is personal to me and Rikki."

"I am your wife," Cathy stated, exasperated, "I'm your family now. We need to be able to talk to each other about these things. We need to be open and honest."

When Mr. Chadwick didn't say anything, the young woman let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you feel like I'm being insensitive."

There was a beat of silence, and then Rikki's father spoke.

"I think maybe we should take some time apart."

Cathy's eyes widened in shock, and then narrowed in anger.

"My whole life I haven't been good enough," she said quietly, "I'm always the last choice. But I finally won with you, and even when I win, I'm still second best to someone who's long gone."

Mr. Chadwick sighed. "You're not second best," he replied, "You're the only woman for me, but if you can't accept that my daughter and I need to honor her memory, then you shouldn't stay,"

Upon hearing her father say these words, Rikki gasped aloud. Both Cathy and her father turned towards the noise, and Cathy jumped. The glass jar slipped out of her grasp and shattered on the ground.

There was complete silence in the kitchen. Too shocked to speak, Rikki slid to the ground, staring at the glass shards scattered around her. Above her, Cathy stood, looking even more shocked.

"I-" she mumbled, "I am so sorry, Rikki. I am so, so, so sor-"

"You're ruining everything," Rikki interrupted, "You're ruining my family even more than it was already ruined, and I hate you,"

And without another word, the redhead stood, picked up her bag, and bolted to the door, pushing Cathy and her father out of the way. She heard her father call her name as she ran into the cool evening air, but she didn't care.


	8. 7

By the time Rikki reached the docks, the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and darkness was all around. She carefully made her way to her favorite spot, on the edge of the longest dock. She walked slowly, trying to see through the tears that were blurring her vision. When she had successfully reached her spot without slipping in any stray water puddles, she plopped down and almost threw her feet into the water over the edge of the dock when she realized that if she continued, her legs would turn into a tail. Hastily, she pulled herself back and curled up, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her head on her knees.

" _Great_ ," she thought dryly, " _My_ _family_ _situation_ _has_ _me_ _so_ _stressed that I'm forgetting about being a mermaid."_

Slowly, she closed her eyes and listened to the familiar sounds around her; the lapping of the waves against the dock, the breeze rustling the sails of the boats, the distant sounds of people laughing and talking on nighttime boat rides. Her fury and sadness began to fade away as she calmed herself down. With each deep breath, her thoughts seemed to become less entangled.

"Um, I'm not sure if you read the sign, but there's no loitering on the docks at night, and I'm pretty sure that just sitting there counts as loitering."

Rikki jumped at the sound of the familiar voice coming from behind her. As she realized who it was, she sighed. Of course, the most annoying guy in school would interrupt her at a time like this. She turned to look and there he was, looming over her in all his tall, muscular glory.

"What do you want, Zane?" she asked, looking up at him. She hoped that her red-rimmed eyes weren't visible in the darkness.

"Well," he replied with a smirk, "I was GOING to jump off the dock into the water for a swim, but you're sitting here, so I think the nice thing to do would be to sit with you rather than jump in and splash water all over you."

With that, the teenage boy plopped down next to her, crossing his legs. Rikki debated pushing him into the water, but she was feeling grateful that he had decided to not almost turn her into a mermaid in front of him, so she decided to try and tolerate his presence. Besides, she had to admit that if anything had the ability to distract her from her problems, it would be Zane.

"So, you were going to go swimming dressed as a forty year old businessman on his day off ?" she asked, eyeing his white polo shirt and dark jeans. She kind of wanted the insult to land, but, if anything, his smirk just widened, and it made her reconsider her idea of pushing him into the ocean.

"Yup," Zane replied, clearly pleased with himself. "I was going to do it to spite my dad. He would have been pissed; these are his clothes I'm wearing."

Now it was Rikki's turn to smirk. "Proud to be wearing your daddy's clothes?"

"Ugh, not even close!" he exclaimed, "Hence me jumping in the lake while wearing them. I would burn them, but the ashes would be too hard to carry back to the house. It's windy tonight."

"Yikes," Rikki replied, "Having family issues?"

"Oh, always. My dad wants me to be a successful businessman like him, but I just want to party and drink and hook up with girls all the time."

"Um, pretty sure you already do that," Rikki retorted.

"I was being sarcastic, Ginger," Zane shot back. Rikki rolled her eyes.

"It's not sarcasm if it's true."

Zane threw his hands up defensively.

"Okay, first of all, I don't hook up with girls all the time. Maybe I did once or twice, but I'm not a man whore, and I have a very real fear of sexually transmitted diseases."

At this, Rikki had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.

"Second of all," Zane continued, "It IS sarcasm because I stated that I WANT to do those things rather than make my dad proud."

The feisty teenager let a smile grace the corners of her mouth. "Wow, we're getting pretty deep here. This is dangerous territory. Are you drunk right now?"

Through the darkness, Rikki saw Zane's ever-present smirk fade. For the past five minutes of their conversation, he had been staring out to sea as he talked. It was almost as if he was there beside her, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Nah, I'm not drunk," Zane replied, with a hint of bitterness to his voice, "Thanks for just assuming that I'm some drunken asshole, by the way."

"Whoa," Rikki replied in surprise, "I didn't mean to offend you, I was just joking."

"Yeah, well, you did" Zane stated, "Why don't you just run on back to your perfect home with your perfect family?"

"Excuse me?" Rikki exclaimed, indignant, "My family is FAR from perfect. In fact, it's currently a mess. My dad probably hates me, his wife hates me, and it's all my fault."

"Well, no offense, but maybe if you tried to think about other people for a change, you would stop causing issues. You can be kinda selfish, you know."

"How am I NOT supposed to take offense to that?!?" Rikki shouted, "You know, you can be such a dic-"

The mermaid stopped mid sentence when she saw the smirk that had returned to Zane's face, revealing that he was only trying to get a rise out of her.

"You are SO immature," Rikki grumbled.

"If I was immature, I would have pushed you into the water when I had the chance," he countered playfully. Somehow, his smirk grew even wider.

"I'm honestly debating doing that to you," Rikki stated, allowing a deadpan expression to cross her face. Zane's face turned so serious that there was no way he wasn't mocking her.

"Do it, you won't," he taunted.

Zane landed in the water with a giant splash, and Rikki took off running, praying that she had outrun any water droplets that had flown her way. She dashed off the docks and started for the beach, letting the dim light of the distant buildings light her way. The cool wind whipped by her as she sprinted onto the sand and slowed to a walk.

"I finally lost him," she thought, and then smiled to herself. "And I got him pretty good, too."

Rikki was utterly shocked to discover Zane, already sitting on the beach, dripping in his dad's soaked through clothes.

"Hey there, feisty," he greeted her, and the smirk was still there. Rikki felt the sudden urge to surprise him and wipe the smirk off his face. She pushed it aside and plopped down next to him in the sand.

"Why are you even here? I just destroyed you, isn't it time to call it a day?" Rikki teased. Zane rolled his eyes.

"I told you, my original reason for going down to the docks was to ruin my dad's clothes. You made that possible, so I decided to go the extra mile and swim to shore. The clothes will smell more like ocean water now."

"Huh," Rikki responded, "Glad I could help you with your problem."

For a few minutes, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and waves crashing against the shore. It was almost unsettling; Zane always had something to say, and yet he was quiet. Finally, he spoke.

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but do you mind sharing with me what exactly it is that has you in a mood?"

Under normal circumstances, the red haired teenager would have just rolled her eyes and walked away. This time, something held her back. She'd been feeling an overwhelming sense of loneliness, between avoiding burdening her friends with her problems and distancing herself from her family. Here was someone sitting right next to her, that wanted to listen to her, an outlet for her pain. There were no consequences of telling Zane; why should she care what a hormone driven moron thought of her family?

"It's just been difficult adjusting to life with Cathy," Rikki explained, "She always acts like she wants to like, replace my mom or something. It makes me so mad."

"Cathy is the woman that your dad married, right?" Zane asked. Rikki eyed him suspiciously.

"How do you know that?"

"Small world." Zane answered, "I overheard you and your friends talking about it one day."

The mermaid hadn't realized that Zane had been paying that much attention to her and her friends, and for some reason, it irked her.

"Yeah, well you really shouldn't be eavesdropping on my conversations." Rikki retorted. She moved as if to stand up, but Zane reached out to stop her.

"Hey wait!" he said, and Rikki was surprised by the gentleness that entered his voice.

"I'm not trying to put you off or anything." he continued, "I'm just genuinely interested in what's going on with you."

As he said this, he looked directly into her eyes, and Rikki could tell that he was being honest. She settled back into her normal position, but tried to keep her guard up.

"That's pretty much all that's going on." Rikki stated, "Typical broken family crap."

Feeling vulnerable, Rikki looked down at the sand and absentmindedly traced it with her fingers. She hated her own weaknesses, and the embarrassment of opening up to someone that she disliked was already creeping in. Zane looked down too, as if he could sense the awkwardness.

"You know, I kinda get you." Zane said, looking back up at her. "I understand how you feel."

Rikki was too surprised to say anything. When Zane realized that he was going to get no response, he continued.

"My dad is the same way. Always trying to give me things that I don't want. I know I sound ungrateful, but it just annoys me that he thinks giving me opportunities will win me over and lead me down the same path as him."

"Um, dude," Rikki answered, "Your dad is literally rich. Why wouldn't you want to go down the same path?"

Zane snorted.

"Yeah, he's rich," the teenage boy responded, "but he doesn't give a shit about me. He didn't really give a shit about my mom, either. All he wants is for me to be wealthy and successful so that his name isn't 'tarnished' or whatever. He's never home, he rarely checks in with me. Sometimes it's like I don't even have a dad at all."

To this, Rikki once again could find nothing to say. She had never really thought of Zane as anything more than an idiot, the poster boy for popular rich dudes in their town. But she was finally looking up again, and she could see in his saddened eyes and tired posture the same lost feeling that she herself had been holding in for years.

Zane seemed to realize that he had revealed more about himself than he wanted to, because he abruptly changed the subject.

"Anyway, I should head back home." he declared, rising to his feet. "Gotta make sure my dad sees what I've done to his clothes."

He reached out a hand to Rikki. She reluctantly allowed him to take it and help her off the ground. When she was standing, his hand lingered with hers for a moment before he pulled it away.

"Hey, you can't take all the credit for the ruined clothes." Rikki teased. "I was the one who pushed you into the water."

Zane smirked, but this smirk was different. It was almost fond in a way, and there was a warmth in his eyes that wasn't normally present.

"You're right." he concluded. "I guess I'll give you some credit and tell dad that a cute girl had something to do with it."

"Maybe you should," Rikki responded, and a smile spread across her face. For the first time in their entire conversation, a smile spread across Zane's too, a real, genuine smile. Rikki couldn't help but note that he was actually quite handsome when he wasn't acting like a typical teenage boy. Of course, he had to ruin the moment.

"See you around, Ginger." Zane said, and he started walking away.

With a roll of her eyes, Rikki called back, "Okay. Let me know what your sentence is after daddy grounds you, and then I'll know when I'll see you again."

Zane kept his back to her, but Rikki could hear him chuckle. Satisfied, the teenage mermaid headed back in the direction of the docks.


	9. 8

Two days.

It had almost been two days since Ondina had burst into her cave. The mermaid had been gasping for breath, and her eyes were panicked. Since the interruption, Lyla had spent almost forty eight hours contemplating the situation, trying to come to a decision.

Ten years.

That was how long it had been since the accident. Since the fateful day that everything had been taken from her. Humans were no more than hypocritical monsters, preaching coexistence with all forms of life, but then leaving their death sentence with every species they poisoned.

One month.

This was the amount of time that Lyla figured she had before the half breeds became a threat. Once they got bored of their usual summer activities, they would begin looking for foolish forms of entertainment, damned be the consequences. This was standard for the teens of the bay; Lyla had learned from her own observations and from those around her that humans had the attention span of a fly. She had dealt with finding ways to chase halfwitted teenagers away from the pod plenty of times. But these girls were different. Their significance was too great to dismiss.

One job.

There was only one thing that could be done to prevent the worse from happening, Lyla figured. But before it could happen, she needed a plan, and for that, she needed a spy.

Two mermaids.

Which one had more potential to fulfill her needs?

——————

The front hallway of her house was dark when Rikki entered. As quickly and as quietly as she could, the mermaid shut the door behind her and tiptoed towards her sleepover bag, which was laying on the floor exactly where she had dropped it.

" _Why hasn't dad cleaned up yet_?" Rikki wondered. She took another small step and, all of a sudden, her foot was engulfed in pain.

"OUCH!" she yelped, hopping backwards. She stumbled into the door, her left foot burning.

"Rikki?!!" a concerned voice answered. The shadow of her father raced into the room and flicked the light on. Before she could even open her mouth, Mr. Chadwick began to scold her.

"Where did you go?!? Do you have any idea how worried I wa-"

He stopped abruptly, seeming to register his daughter's position for the first time. Then, his exclamations took on a different tone.

"Are you okay?!? What happened!?!"

Rikki sighed. "I think that I stepped on a piece of glass. You know, the glass that's still on the floor from like an hour ago."

Mr. Chadwick looked around him, as if he was discovering the mess for the first time.

"I'm so sorry Rikki. I should have at least left the light on, I just wasn't sure that you were going to come back tonight."

The weight of Mr. Chadwick's guilt was evident in his voice, and it tempered Rikki's own anger.

"It's okay, Dad." she replied, trying to keep all emotion out of her voice. She didn't need him feeling more guilty, but she also didn't want him to think that she was completely fine.

Mr. Chadwick helped his daughter stand and led her around the mess into the living room. They sat down on the couch. Before she could protest, Mr. Chadwick grabbed Rikki's foot and examined it closely.

"Yup, that's definitely glass." he stated, "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"

For a second, Rikki could think of no good answer to that question, because she was sure that she had been wearing shoes when she left the house. But then she reached the docks...

"Oh shit! I went to sit on the docks and I took them off to put my feet in the water. I must have left them there!"

Her father sighed. "Well, you obviously can't go get them now, so you'll have to hope that they're still there in the morning. Also, language."

Rikki said nothing. Without forewarning, Mr. Chadwick pulled the glass out of her foot.

"OW! Dad!!!" she complained, "What was that for?"

"It's easier to just get it done with then to agonize over it by pulling it out slowly." he explained. Then, after examining her foot again, he said, "It's not bad. A little wide but not too deep. You should just wash it and put a bandaid on it."

Rikki began to stand, but her father stopped her.

"Wait," he ordered, "stay here. I need to talk to you."

Filled with dread, Rikki sat back down. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"I want to discuss what happened earlier with you. I'm sorry that you had to see us fighting like that."

Rikki shrugged, thinking that if she played it off like she was unaffected by the incident, she would be free to leave soon.

"It's fine. People fight." she replied. Mr. Chadwick shook his head.

"But we shouldn't fight in front of you. I know that it made you upset. Don't lie. You practically went missing for an hour."

Seeing no way out of an uncomfortable conversation, Rikki decided to spill her thoughts.

"No dad," she protested, "The fighting wasn't what upset me. What makes me angry is the fact that your girlfriend is inconsiderate of mom's memory. She broke mom's jar."

"That was an accident. Honestly, her anger today was justified. I don't know why I never told her about the meaning of the shelf. It's not her fault that she didn't know, and I became angry with her."

"She didn't know because she's not family." Rikki protested, feeling her anger boiling back up. Mr. Chadwick looked at her for a moment, and Rikki hoped that he was soaking in every inch of her hurt. She wanted him to feel how deeply Cathy's presence in their lives had affected them. She almost wanted him to become angry too, to yell at her and tell her she was being selfish, because maybe, just maybe, it would snap her out of the mess she felt herself becoming.

Instead, her father just sighed and put his head in his hands, running his fingers through his messy hair. Once again, the broken and defeated way that he looked numbed his daughter's vexation. Then, suddenly, he looked back up at Rikki.

"I need you to listen to me Rikki. This is extremely important for you to understand, got it?" It seemed to the teenage mermaid that his eyes were almost pleading with her, so she nodded her head.

"Okay," he began, "When I first started dating your mom, I was in a bad place. I had just graduated from college, and I couldn't find a decent job. I lived with my parents, who told me every single day that I was worthless. But then, I met your mother, and everything changed. I found motivation to be better, and to keep fighting for a life, in her. I fell in love with how strong she was. I loved her then, and part of me still loves her now, okay?"

Rikki nodded again, but this time she could feel tears building up in her eyes, threatening to spill over. She thought that she could see her father's eyes becoming red as well, but he choked it down and continued.

"I haven't known Cathy as long as I knew your mother. I know that it seems like a surprise that we married so quickly. I know that you're upset that I never even told you we were dating. That was my first mistake. But my second was sheltering you from the truth even after she was in your life, because the truth is that she is a part of my life now. She is not a replacement for your mom, but she is my new wife. I don't know how I'm going to fix this mess, but I just know that I'm going to, because I love her and she gives me hope for a second chance at marriage."

"Mom would've wanted that." Rikki blurted out, and her father looked at her in surprise.

"Mom would have wanted that for you." she repeated, sniffling, "And I might not get along with Cathy, but I want you to be happy too, dad."

Mr. Chadwick smiled and wrapped an arm around his daughter.

"I know you do. But I also want you to know that before Cathy's happiness, and before my own happiness, I put yours, because I love you more than anything in this world. You might not see it now, but Cathy is a good woman, one of the kindest and most resilient people that I have ever met. She wants to be a part of our family. She might have pushed boundaries today, but she only pushed them because of me. Please try to understand that, and give her a chance."

"I will. I promise." Rikki answered, putting on a smile. Mr. Chadwick smiled and wiped the tears off of her face.

"Anyway," he said, abruptly changing the subject, "I noticed that your sleepover bag is over there in that mess, and it looks pretty full. Were you planning on going somewhere tonight?"

"Yeah, I wanted to sleep over at Emma's." Rikki responded. Internally, she cringed. Immediately after this heartfelt conversation, she was still lying to her father. She braced herself for him to punish her for disappearing for an hour, wondering how long her sentence would be. But instead Mr. Chadwick just smiled.

"Just make sure you take care of that wound before you head off. And put on new shoes."

With that, he stood up, kissed Rikki on the forehead, and headed into the kitchen, presumably to grab a broom and sweep up the glass. Filled with remorse, Rikki slowly limped to the bathroom, flicked on the light, and shut the door behind her. As she cleaned and bandaged her injury, she looked at her ragged appearance in the mirror. Red puffy eyes stared back at her.

"Hopefully the girls don't ask where I've been." Rikki thought, "I don't really feel like explaining myself."


	10. 9

"Where have you been?!?"

Five heads turned from the board game on the table to Rikki at the sound of Emma's exclamation. Feeling uncomfortable, Rikki shut the door behind her and glanced at the clock hanging above Isabella's couch. 10:00 exactly. She had missed the entire first hour of the sleepover.

"Sorry guys, I had to stop at home to grab my sleeping bag and stuff but I ran into a few… distractions."

Charlotte, Evie, and Isabella all seemed confused by her explanation but stayed silent. Emma looked as if she wanted to push the subject further, but a look from Cleo kept her quiet.

"Well, all that matters is that you're here now!" Isabella exclaimed, eyes shining with excitement.

"I'll show you around. You guys can just finish the game without me."

The four girls remaining at the table turned their attention back to monopoly. As Isabella and Rikki left the room, Rikki heard a burst of laughter, and she immediately felt sorry for missing out on the fun.

"So, the room that we were just in was the living room," Isabella explained, "and this is the kitchen."

Warmth and the fragrant smell of cookies baking in the oven greeted Rikki. The walls of the kitchen were a light blue, and the creamy white countertops, with their gold accents, complimented it. Sitting at the island was a small older woman. She seemed engrossed with the magazine she was reading. When Isabella greeted the older woman, she jumped, startled.

"Oh, sorry!" Isabella quickly apologized. The woman just smiled and "tsk-tsked" at the teen.

"You should know better than to try and scare your grandmother like that dear," she stated. Isabella began to protest, but the elderly woman just laughed.

"I'm just teasing, Bella. Who is this?"

Isabella's grandmother nodded her head in Rikki's direction and smiled warmly at her. The redheaded girl couldn't help but smile back. She had never met the parents of her mother or her father; neither of them had had much luck in the family department up until they met each other. Rikki, lately, was often wondering if her luck would be the same.

"This is Rikki! She's one of my new friends that's sleeping over tonight."

The old woman smiled warmly at her granddaughter's friend, and Rikki found that she couldn't help but smile back. The atmosphere of the house was almost infectious; Rikki could feel the closeness of the family as if it were her own.

"Nice to meet you Rikki," the old woman said. Then, her face lit up.

"Would you girls like some of my hot chocolate?"

"Oh, you don't have to grandma," Isabella replied, "It's not even that cold outside-"

"More for me, then," a voice from the door interrupted. Rikki turned to see a strange girl leaning in the kitchen doorway. She had the same tan skin Isabella, but her dark hair was shorter than Isabella's and just skimmed her shoulders. The girl took a seat at the kitchen table. Then, as if just realizing that Rikki was there, she turned and faced her with a start.

"Um, hi. I'm Rikki." the redhead awkwardly introduced herself.

"She's here for the sleepover," Isabella jumped in. Then, motioning to the girl, she explained, "Rikki, this is my older sister, Gabriela."

"Oh, hey." Gabriela greeted Rikki with a small smile.

"Why don't you girls head to the living room with the others while I get started on melting the chocolate?" Isabella's grandmother suggested, turning the stove on.

"I wish I could, but I have this piece for an audition that I have to go practice," the older girl replied, "I'll just get some hot chocolate once it's ready."

With that, she gave her grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek, waved bye to Rikki, and headed upstairs. Rikki and Isabella left the room to join the other girls, deciding, ultimately, that there was no sense in arguing with a stubborn grandmother who was in the mood to cook.

As they headed for the living room, Isabella said, "Sorry that my sister was so weird about that. She's not big on having guests over because she feels uncomfortable practicing singing while they're here."

"Your sister sings, too?" Rikki asked.

"Yeah," Isabella replied, "and she's really, REALLY good. She's in every musical at school, and she's in choir class with me. She gets all the solos."

"Sounds like someone is jealous," Rikki remarked, smirking. Isabella just laughed.

"No, it's all good. She's older than me, and has more experience, so she deserves it. She's even won a statewide talent show."

Before Rikki could ask about how one family could contain so much talent, they had arrived in the living room. Evie and Emma were bent over the monopoly board, apparently the only two left in the game. Cleo and Charlotte sat on the couch, looking extremely disinterested. Upon seeing the two girls, Cleo's face lit up.

"Oh thank god," she exclaimed, "Monopoly is SO boring to watch after you go bankrupt!"

"Hey!" Emma retorted, breaking her focus momentarily. "What did I say about distracting me with unrelated conversation? I want to win!"

In response, Cleo threw a pillow at Emma's head but missed, knocking the board game, along with the various game pieces, to the floor in a heap.

"NO!!!" Evie shouted, jumping up from the ground in distress. "I WAS ABOUT TO WIN."

"Pfft, sure." Emma retorted, and Evie glared at her.

"Hey, how about we do something that doesn't end with a fight?" Cleo suggested.

"I agree," Isabella added, "We can't have any pillows knocking over the hot chocolate that my grandma is making."

"What are we supposed to do?" Evie asked. "Sit in a circle and gossip? That's so cliche."

But, despite her protests, ten minutes later, the girls were settled into a circle in the living room, with Charlotte, Emma, Rikki, and Cleo squeezed onto the couch, Isabella and Evie sharing a chair, and six steaming mugs of homemade hot chocolate sitting on the table.

"So let's start with some juicy information," Evie said. "Have any of you kissed a guy yet? And if so, who was it?"

"Um, I have." Charlotte replied, blushing. Cleo looked at her in surprise.

"Who did you kiss?" she asked, and Charlotte's face flushed even more.

"It was a guy from my old school. I was helping him study for a test, and he told me that I was really smart and pretty. We talked for a while and then, I don't know, it just kind of happened."

"Wait, so why aren't you with him?" Emma asked, "What happened?"

"Let's just say," Charlotte replied, "that he wasn't exactly the most loyal guy at school."

"Wow, I'm sorry it didn't work out." Isabella remarked. Charlotte just laughed.

"It's fine," she answered, "I figured him out before we started officially dating, and I cut him off. I really wasn't too attached."

"I'm surprised you even kissed him. I mean, how well did you know this guy?" Emma asked. Rikki rolled her eyes.

"Ignore Emma," she stared, "She doesn't do casual dating like the rest of us because she believes in 'soulmates' and 'destiny'."

"Hey!" Emma defensively exclaimed, "I believe in it because it's true. Everyone has someone out there that's meant for them, and I'm saving my first kiss for that person."

"And I presume that Byron is the person you think you're waiting for?" Cleo teased. Rikki laughed.

"She's as red as Charlotte now!" she joked.

"Wait," Evie cut in, "Byron as in the popular surfer dude at school? The one with long blonde hair?"

Emma nodded timidly. Evie shrugged.

"I don't really see him as your type. But hey, to each their own." she remarked.

"What about you, Evie?" Rikki inquired, "Who was your first kiss?"

"I also haven't had mine yet." Evie replied. "But it's not because I believe in fate or whatever. It's because I haven't found anyone worth kissing."

"Ouch," Isabella added, "Low blow to the guy that you went on a date with a year ago."

Evie shrugged indifferently.

"He was boring. I just didn't feel anything for him. Okay, your turn Isabella."

"The one kiss I've had was in elementary school." Isabella began. "He used to be my best friend. We were at recess one day, and he just leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. It was super quick."

The girls all laughed, including Isabella.

"He moved away that summer," she continued, "so unfortunately, our romance was ended."

"How tragic." Rikki responded. Then, she turned to Cleo.

"At least your childhood crush is still here. You should shoot your shot before he gets sick of waiting."

Cleo glared at her with an expression that could've melted ice.

"Well, you're just picking on everyone today aren't you?" she mumbled. Rikki laughed and gave her a quick hug.

"I'm just trying to help you Cleo. You obviously like him, and he obviously likes you back. Why not go for it?"

"Who are we talking about?" Isabella asked, curious. The three new girls all leaned forward in interest, while Emma and Rikki shared a satisfied smile. Seeing no way to escape, Cleo took a deep breath.

"Fine," she stated, "I have feelings for Lewis."

A chorus of squeals broke out amongst the girls, but the loudest by far was Charlotte's, who jumped up and hugged Cleo, exclaiming "I knew it!" over Cleo's protests.

"It's just a small crush! It's not a big deal!" she insisted, but nobody was listening.

"I only talked to him for ten minutes, but I know that you two would be so cute together!" Isabella beamed.

"See?" Rikki laughed, "Cleo, this is why you have to stop being afraid and just go for it! Everyone agrees with me, right?"

The girls all nodded in agreement. Cleo, uncomfortable with the attention, thought of a way to divert it.

"So, Rikki, what's going on with you and Zane?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"W-what are you talking about?" Rikki inquired, obviously caught off guard.

"Well," Cleo continued, "Zane has been paying an awful lot of attention to you lately. He goes out of his way to flirt with you."

"Okay, first of all, he's not flirting with me. He's annoying me because he's an asshole." Rikki replied, throwing her hands up in defense.

"And, also, he DOES NOT go out of his way to see me."

"Yeah he does!" Emma jumped in, eyes shining with excitement over the thought of her friend's potential romance.

"He's always waiting for you in the halls and after classes. He used to ride by your old place on that stupid motorboat of his just to see you, like, every day."

"Ahh yes," Rikki sarcastically swooned, "Stalking. How romantic."

"Oh c'mon Rikki, you know it's not like that!" Cleo exclaimed. Rikki rolled her eyes.

"But it IS, Cleo. There's nothing there."

"You've been on a date with him!" Emma exclaimed.

"Yeah, because I needed his help with something and I knew he wouldn't have helped me if I had just asked."

"He totally would've." Emma retorted. "I think he would probably do anything you asked, Rikki. You could ask him to dive off a cliff and he would do it."

"Oh brother," Rikki groaned, hiding her head in her hands. But, the other girls still noticed her red face and the small smile that was fighting to grow on her face.

"I think you guys are right." Charlotte observed, smiling smugly.

"Wait," Evie asked, "Is Zane the guy with pinkish hair?"

The girls all nodded, and Evie grinned.

"I was wondering who he was. He stopped in the Juicy Bar earlier to grab a smoothie while we were there. I noticed that he kept looking over at us, but I couldn't figure out who he was looking at until Rikki stood up to get a drink. His eyes followed you. It was like he was glued to you."

"Okay, it's definitely time for bed." Rikki stayed, choosing to change the subject rather than continue fighting.

"I am getting kinda tired." Isabella replied.

A chorus of agreements followed hers, and, in a few minutes, the girls were nestled into their sleeping bags, fast asleep.

Except for Rikki. She lay, wrapped up in blankets, on the couch, and she stared at the ceiling above her. A million thoughts swirled around inside her head; memories of her mother, her current home situation, and all of the things her friends had brought up about Zane.

"Are my friends right?" Rikki wondered, "Does Zane actually like me?"

She quickly realized that this was a stupid question. It was obvious that Zane had feelings for her. The better question was if he meant to make something meaningful out of his feelings, or if he was just playing her.

Resolving that she was too exhausted to figure out the puzzle, Rikki finally allowed herself to fall asleep.


	11. 10

"Excuse me! I'm sorry, please let me through! I'm really-oof-sorry!"

Sirena dodged through the crowds of mermaids like a bullet, flipping her tail back and forth to propel herself through the water. The current brushed against her like a gust of wind as she darted to her destination, anxiety propelling her to swim faster.

It was a busy day in the pod. Mermaids swam about, conversing with friends, helping the local crabs find new shells, and harvesting seaweed. A few sea turtles meandered about lazily, and the familiar sound of chatter drifted above it all.

The sunlight from above ground cut through the water, and it seemed to Sirena that it's warmth reached out to her, beckoning her to rise above the waves and heed its grandeur. She longed to swim to the surface and take in its warmth, and she allowed her eyes to wander upwards, where radiant beams of light showered down. Then, with a shake of her head, she returned to reality.

"Focus," she scolded herself. "Lyla summoned you, and you're already late for the meeting."

The summons had come earlier in the morning, while Sirena was out for a swim in the coral plains. By the time she came back and spotted the notice on her door, she was already nearly an hour late.

Sirena had a bad habit of being late for almost everything. Her brother, Zac, claimed that she could be as air headed as a shark; as soon as she caught a waft of blood, her direction changed instantly. As she neared Lyla's quarters, Sirena willed herself to not allow the temptations of the world above to distract her. Today was too important.

The venturesome mermaid was surprised to find Ondina, her best friend, floating outside the entrance to Lyla's home. Before Sirena could ask why she was here, Ondina started interrogating her.

"Where were you?" she questioned, with absolute perturbation in her small voice. "The meeting started an hour ago!"

"I didn't see the message about it until I was too late! I was busy this morning," Sirena protested, throwing her hands up in defense. Ondina sighed with exasperation.

"This is important for you, Sirena! Do you even know what this meeting is about?"

Sirena eyed her friend suspiciously. "No," she replied, "Do you?"

"...maybe, but I'm not allowed to tell." Ondina answered, and then quickly she added, "But I wish I could've told you myself! I've been dying to tell somebody."

Without another word, she lightly pushed Sirena through the entrance and down a long corridor. The cave was dark inside, the stone a cold blue color that made Sirena shiver.

"Why are you still here anyway?" Sirena inquired.

"I'm here because Lyla had me send you the message. When you never answered, I came back here to let her know that you weren't coming."

Ondina looked almost relieved as she added, "I'm really glad that now I don't have to be the bearer of bad news."

Eventually, the mermaids reached Lyla's meeting room.

"Good luck!" Ondina exclaimed. "I'll meet you outside after so we can talk!"

Then, she swam off and Sirena was alone in the gloomy hallway. She took a deep breath and, as she floated into the room, mentally prepared herself for the pairs of eyes that would inevitably turn her way when she entered.

She was surprised to find only two mermaids in the room. Lyla was having what appeared to be an intense conversation with a dark haired mermaid whose back was turned to the room's entrance. When the pod leader noticed Sirena, she stopped talking abruptly and smiled warmly in her direction. The other mermaid turned to see who had entered, and Sirena was surprised to see that the mermaid was Nixie.

Nixie was, in terms of how long she'd been there, one of the oldest members of the pod, and for as long as Sirena could remember, her and Lyla had been close friends. She didn't know her very well (in fact, she didn't know Lyla personally, either), but something about the aura that surrounded her had always felt off to Sirena. Lyla was so warm and generous; Nixie was more withdrawn. She seemed kind as well, but her kindness had an edge to it, as if she was ready to turn it into a blade when necessary.

"Hi, Sirena!" Lyla greeted her, a good-natured smile spreading across her lips. For a moment, the teenage mermaid beside her looked shaken, as if she hadn't been expecting another visitor, but she recovered quickly and smiled, as well.

"Hi." Sirena addressed the two, suddenly feeling awkward. Even though they were close in age, there was something about Lyla that emanated wisdom beyond her years. It was difficult to figure out if it was her natural leadership abilities, or the circumstances that had forced her to mature far too quickly.

"I was explaining to Nixie here that our pod currently has a very dangerous problem. Now that you're both here, we can all discuss what it is." Lyla stated. Nixie nodded, leaning towards Lyla with interest, but Sirena was baffled.

"Why does she want to speak with me about this?" she wondered.

"I was informed yesterday afternoon of a...disturbance that could threaten us all. Your friend Ondina-" she gave a pointed glance at Sirena"-discovered a strange hole that appeared to be an abandoned mermaid shelter in the surface of a crevice. One of our crevices. She said that it was new; she had never seen it before."

"A crevice?" Nixie asked. "Could just be erosion from the current, or maybe an animal did it."

"That's what I initially said to Ondina when she told me. But, apparently, the hole had a tunnel in it, a new one we hadn't found yet."

"A tunnel?" Sirena inquired. "To where?"

"The tunnel led straight to Mako Island. But there were three humans there." Lyla explained. Any sense of calm that she had possessed before was gone, and her face was grave.

"Humans have been going to Mako Island for years, though." Nixie remarked. "It probably isn't a big deal. Don't you remember the time that pink haired guy showed up and started drinking with his friends? I really gave him a scare."

Nixie giggled at the memory, but Lyla held up her hand, and her best friend fell silent.

"Yes, the humans have been using the island for years. That isn't the issue. The issue is that the three human girls Ondina encountered aren't like the others." the pod leader explained.

"How so?" Sirena asked. Lyla looked back and forth between the two, as if she was almost unsure that she had chosen the right mermaids to share sensitive information with. Then, she sighed in resignation.

"The girls went for a swim," she continued, cautiously, "and when they entered the water, they turned into mermaids."

A silence fell over the room. Sirena was taken aback. She opened her mouth to speak, but words wouldn't come out. Nixie's jaw dropped nearly to the floor, and she looked disbelievingly at Lyla and Sirena.

"No, that can't be true!" she exclaimed. "They can't all be evolving in that way, can they?"

"I'm not sure." Lyla responded. "That is why I'm sending one of you to the surface."

A shockwave passed through Sirena. "The...the surface?" she stammered. Lyla nodded.

Before Sirena could utter another word, Nixie cut in, eagerly.

"I won't let you down!" she exclaimed. "Those humans won't get past me. I will protect us all from this threat, I promise."

"And that's exactly why I'm not sending you." Lyla replied, smirking. Nixie's excitement disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Why not?" she asked, trying (but failing) to conceal her irritation.

"Because," Lyla answered, "I know your history. If I send you to the surface, you won't be able to control yourself."

"Yes I will!" Nixie retorted, "I'm not five, Lyla. You know how long I've waited for a chance to do something about this. The humans have been becoming more and more of a problem lately. Let me handle this mission, and I'll follow your orders, whatever they are."

Lyla looked for a moment as if she was considering the idea. But, she simply shook her head in disagreement.

"I need someone without your temperament." Then, she turned to Sirena.

"I'm sending you to infiltrate the human world. You need to spy on them."

Sirena and Nixie both gasped.

"Why me?" Sirena inquired, while Nixie whined, "Why her?!"

"Sirena is the closest thing I have to an extra sentinel," she explained to Nixie, almost as if Sirena was no longer there.

"I can't give up a single sentinel during this time, but I need someone close enough to one. Sirena has picked up traits and skills from spending so much time with Ondina, and Ondina is the best sentinel we have."

Nixie opened her mouth as if to argue, but Lyla held up her hand and continued.

"I know what you're going to say, Nixie. Trust me, I'm aware of how sharp your skills are when it comes to this sort of thing. But I need strength here in the pod. That's why I've decided to make you the commander of the sentinels."

"The sentinels have never needed a commander before," Nixie snapped, cheeks flushed red with anger.

"They will if the humans are evolving!" Lyla insisted. Her patience finally seemed to be running thin.

"If the humans are gaining the ability to…'become' us," she continued with a shudder, "then what's to stop them from coming down here and finding us? What's to stop them from replacing us?"

Having no response, Nixie grunted in frustration and swam out of the room. Lyla sighed in exasperation. She turned to Sirena and smiled, finally acknowledging her presence.

"Well…that was awkward." Sirena remarked.

"Don't worry about her." Lyla said. "She's upset now but she'll get over it."

"I honestly don't even know her that well." Sirena answered. "I guess me and Nixie won't be making friendship bracelets for each other anytime soon."

Lyla's expression turned grave.

"Sirena," she stated, "This is an extremely serious mission. I fear that the future of the pod depends on it. I want to make that very clear to you."

"Right," Sirena replied, casting her eyes downward. She couldn't let the pod leader detect the excitement rising within her like a bubbling volcano about to erupt.

Lyla placed both hands on Sirena's shoulders, and the other mermaid couldn't help but look up to meet her eyes.

"It is crucial that you not only take this seriously, but that you also succeed." Lyla continued. "We might only have one chance to strike. If you reveal us too early, we will lose that plan, and we might not be alive to form a Plan B. Do you understand that?"

"Completely!" Sirena exclaimed, nodding with enthusiasm. "I will not let us down, Lyla. I promise."

The pod leader released her grip on her chosen spy.

"That's good-" she said, and a small smile appeared on her face, "-because I would hate to see what might happen if you come home empty handed."

Before Sirena could even ask what that meant, Lyla exclaimed, "Well, that's all for now! I'll send Ondina with more information for you tonight, and you leave early tomorrow morning, before the crack of dawn. Go pack your things."

Then, without another word, Lyla gave Sirena a gentle shove. As soon as she was in the corridor, the door slammed shut behind her. Sirena headed back the way she had come, no longer fighting the urge to smile. Lyla's cryptic words didn't matter; for the first time in her life, she was going to see the world above.

"I KNEW you would be excited!" Ondina exclaimed, pulling Sirena into a hug. Sirena grinned and squeezed her friend back.

"I just can't believe that I leave tomorrow," she remarked, breaking out of the hug and turning back to the pile of supplies spread out on the bed. After receiving her assignment, Ondina and Sirena had spent all afternoon scanning the ocean floor for coins and supplies that had been abandoned by humans.

"Humans are so selfish," Ondina stated bluntly, glaring at the pile of soggy clothes and the rusted switchblade on the bed. "They just dump their trash everywhere with no regard for sea life."

"Well, it's a good thing we're here." Sirena answered. "As long as we're in this area, it'll be spotless."

"I guess," Ondina grumbled, "but it's isn't fair that we have to clean THEIR mess."

But Sirena had stopped listening. She was staring at the heap on her bed, lost in thought. Ondina observed her best friend thoughtfully.

"Why do you want to go up there so badly?" she wondered aloud. Sirena took a minute to answer.

"I guess I've just always felt drawn it to." she responded. "There's this whole other world just above the surface, filled with so many things waiting to be discovered and explored."

Ondina noticed the longing in Sirena's expression as she talked about the human world.

"Just stay focused while you're up there. You don't want to upset Lyla with your first mission, and you also don't want to end up in one of those awful fishing nets, being towed to a lab like the one Lyla tells us about." Ondina shivered at the thought of the story.

"Also," she continued, "Move over so I can take care of the stuff we found."

"Oh, right," Sirena replied, seemingly shaken out of deep thought. She drifted to the other side of the room to give Ondina space.

The sentinel mermaid closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She began to weave with her hands, working the water as if it was a clay that didn't slip through her fingers. Slowly, the liquid she touched worked itself into a filmy substance. When it was done, Ondina pushed the substance towards the bed, where it wrapped itself around the pile of supplies. Almost instantly, the water was soaked out of the clothes, the rust disappeared from the metals, and any tears that had been caused by water repaired themselves.

"You know," said a voice from the doorway, "I always thought it was weird that you're a mermaid whose only power is reversing the effects of water."

Zac swam into the room. As he entered, his tail created a slight current that knocked over Sirena's potted seaweed.

"Hey, watch what you're doing with that thing!" she exclaimed, but she couldn't stop herself from giggling. Zac just smirked.

"C'mon, sis. You put the plant right in my way. It's almost like you wanted me to ruin it."

"You're an asshole." Ondina remarked as she sent another film of sticky liquid over to the potted plant. The liquid reversed the current from moments earlier, lifting the seaweed back into place.

"So, I heard you're heading to the surface for a while?" Zac asked his sister. Sirena looked up with surprise.

"How did you already know that? I haven't told anyone yet!"

"I knew before she did." Ondina added with a smirk.

"Word travels fast, sis." Zac replied. "The whole pod is already talking about it."

"What's there to talk about?" Sirena inquired. She hesitated, and then added, "What are they saying?"

"They're saying," Zac answered, "that this mission from Lyla is unlike any we've ever seen before."

"So?" Sirena asked. She was beginning to feel some trepidation. She hadn't even left the ocean yet, and already the pod was acting like she would never come back. It was one of the things she disliked about living with other mermaids; they could be terrible gossips.

"So?" Ondina cut in before Zac could say anything. "Sirena, this mission is kind of a huge deal. It's not just a vacation."

"I know that!" Sirena countered, throwing her hands up in defense. Then, with a sigh, she added, "I'm just trying to keep things light hearted by focusing on the positives, like finally getting to explore the human world. It's fascinating."

"And also potentially dangerous." Zac remarked. Suddenly, Sirena felt as if she was being scolded by two parents.

"Look, guys," Sirena said, "I know this mission is really important. I know that the survival of the pod might depend on me. But you don't need to worry about me, or the pod, or anything else. All I have to do is go up there, spy a little, and then come back in a few days. I'll be fine."

"And by 'spy', you mean 'infiltrate', right?" Ondina retorted. "Because that's what you told me her exact words were. 'Infiltrate the human world'."

"Yup!" Sirena exclaimed, "I've got this guys, don't worry about me." She willed herself to feel as confident as she sounded. Zac swam over and embraced Sirena.

"Okay, I have to go. Just please stay careful up there, alright? Make us proud."

"I will, I promise." Sirena closed her eyes and leaned into her brother. He had always been there to protect her. His presence was a comfort. When he had decided to move out and live with the other male guards, she had been sad, but she understood that he was only looking to find where he belonged. Sirena often wondered if she would ever find her group. Ondina had the sentinels, Zac had the guards; would this mission finally cement her place in a group?

"I want to join." Ondina remarked. She squished herself in between the two siblings, and the three best friends laughed. Then, they broke apart. Zac and Ondina left the cave, both of them giving Sirena one last smile and a little wave before disappearing.

Later that night, Sirena tossed her small bag over her shoulder. As she left her cave, she refused to look back. She had to believe that it wouldn't be the last time she would see her home.

She swam as quietly as she could, weaving through rocks and coral. When she was out of the pod's territory, she began her ascent. As she swam upward, she was surprised by how blindingly brilliant the moon was; even when blurry because of the waves, it's magnificence empowered her.

The empowerment didn't last long. As Sirena climbed in elevation, she tried to regain her former excitement, but she kept thinking about what Ondina had said.

"Infiltrate". That was what she had to do. She had to become a human, somehow. The thought made her queasy, but there was no turning back. The waves were approaching, and the moon was getting larger, and larger, until…

Sirena took a deep breath and broke through the surface.


End file.
